Rashid Rana really needs no introduction with anyone familiar with the Pakistani art scene. Having emerged as an icon of his generation, he has been flying high for a while now and seems to be on his way still further up. His large-scale photography-based work, in which imagery emerges as an initially deceptive but eventually double narrative, has become his hallmark now and he keeps inventing new ways to challenge his viewers both intellectually and visually.

Most recently he was part of the prestigious Venice Biennale, but his work was nonetheless viewed in Lahore as well, thanks to the artist’s ingenuity and use of modern communication technology.

Well, the people are curious to know who Rashid Rana is and how was he able to accomplish so much at a relatively young age? Was it sheer luck, destiny, or a combination of genius and hard work? Perhaps it was all of this and more. Here, one would attempt to enter into the ‘time tunnel’ of Rashid’s life, exploring the events and people who helped him become what he is.

The artist is quick to acknowledge his ‘humble background’. His parents, Razia Begum and Rana Bashir Ahmed, were married as teenagers prior to the making of Pakistan and later migrated in rather tough circumstances. It is obvious that Rana has a deep fondness for his mother, whom he refers to as a ‘very strong woman’, who endured hardships for her children and did all she possibly could do despite her limited resources.

Born in 1968, he is the youngest amongst his siblings, with two elder brothers and two sisters. His family lived in Gujranwala prior to his birth and shifted to Lahore in the ’60s. While the eldest brother went into business, the second one, Arshad Rana, had a creative streak and became an aircraft engineer eventually serving in Kuwait Airways.

At the age of 47, Rashid Rana is considered Pakistan’s most exciting artist, whose art has taken dramatically different modes such as paintings, stainless steel structures, video installation, photo-sculptures and photo mosaics. Dualities and paradoxes in our society have been recurring themes throughout his artistic career

Rashid narrates how Arshad was fond of making drawings and also painted with water colours on old black and white photographs. This motivated Rashid who also then attempted to draw. He would enjoy making diagrams of his biology lessons, but other than this, art was considered to be just a hobby to be indulged in occasionally. His father had hoped that Rana would join the army or the bureaucracy, perhaps in the hope that his son could then wield some authority in society.

Rana had his early schooling in a government school, with the objective to prepare him for admission to the then prestigious Central Model School, Lahore. Rashid passed with flying colours and went on to do his intermediate from FC College, Lahore and planned to become a computer electronics engineer. His brother, serving in Kuwait, was willing to financially support his studies.

Rana even got admission abroad but somehow his travelling schedule got him delayed and he had to defer his admission. However, his destiny changed, when in this waiting period, someone suggested that he should take admission in the National College of Arts (NCA) and study architecture or graphic design, rather than “waste his brother’s money at the undergraduate level”.

Not quite familiar with either the NCA or the prospects of being in an art school, Rashid ended up in the fine arts department, almost by default, thanks to Salima Hashmi and the then principal, Abbasi Abidi. Even then, he planned that he would eventually do an MBA, while his father still harboured the desire that his son should appear for the CSS exam. However, in his third year at college, Rana participated in an exhibition at Islamabad’s Rohtas Gallery; it was an experience which somehow made him realise that fine arts was his forte and that he would pursue this single-mindedly as a profession. Not surprising then, that he was able to get a distinction in his thesis in the final year at the NCA.

There was no looking back after that. He soon was able to get admission in The Massachusetts College of Art in Boston where his art practice evolved in a minimalistic direction, unlike the “all spices” version he feels he may have been indulging in while working in Pakistan. Nonetheless, Rana also acknowledges the influence of his teacher at the NCA, the late Zahoor ul Akhlaque, on his creative thought processes.

Rashid is keen to emphasise that he has devoted the greater part of his life to teaching art. He was one of the founding faculty members at Hunerkada in Islamabad and then taught at the NCA. Later he joined Becanhouse National University (BNU), where he is currently the Dean of the School of Visual Arts and Design. His teaching career spans over 23 years and he feels that his involvement with the BNU has been most significant.

Teaching has also been his main source of income and ensured that his art practice never became a commercial enterprise. In fact, he was surprised when eventually his work started breaking price records in the international art market, because initially his work had not sold well. Even now, it is investors rather than Rana who make more money, because his work gets auctioned at phenomenal prices.

Rashid does indeed appear to be a contented man at this point, also with regards to his personal life. He married artist Aroosa Naz almost eight years ago and is the father of two young boys. He admits that his wife has brought stability and peace in his life and he finds it easier to be even more of a “perfectionist” in his work in his post marriage life. It is this perfectionism and even anxiety to produce excellent work that keeps propelling him upwards.

He is the quintessential restless soul, but the stability in his personal life provides a safe haven to come back to after all his ‘crazy work commitments’. He is in fact immensely proud of Naz’s creative abilities as well and hopes that she too will make a name for herself as an artist.

As our long conversation came towards its conclusion one felt that Rana had exceptional clarity of thought, not only in terms of his art practice but also in terms of his socio-political opinions. He is not only brilliant, but focused and immensely hard working too. As for the role of destiny, he believes that it is the people who one encounters, or even meets momentarily in the journey of life, who help make one’s destiny. He acknowledges and is grateful to all those who have contributed in this, in one way or another.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine October 11th , 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play