LAHORE: Solo shows by eminent artists British-Pakistani Anwar Jalal Shemza and Musarat Mirza were organised at the National College of Arts (NCA) on Friday.

The art show titled Art Capsule – Parallax is part of this year’s Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) and was inaugurated by Iqbal Z Ahmed, former trustee of the NCA.

Shemza’s works have been displayed in Lahore after a decade. During its three previous iterations, the LLF has hosted exhibitions of modern and contemporary Pakistani artists; this year it is celebrating modernists. The other solo exhibition at the gallery displayed works of the great painter, Musarat Mirza. She is being conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the LLF this year. She is also a recipient of the government’s Tamgha-i-Imtiaz.

A total of 31 artworks were displayed at the exhibition -- 20 by Shemza and 11 by Musarat. The works included ink on paper by Shemza and oil on canvas by Musarat. Some of the artworks came from private collections.

Saleema Hashmi, former principal of the NCA, said it was a great exhibition. Nazish Ataullah, another former principal of the college, said the exhibition was unique as the works of two great artists had been displayed after a long time.

NCA Principal Murtaza Jaffri said it was an honour for the NCA to host an exhibition of artworks by artists such as Anwar Shemza and Musarat Mirza.

He said the exhibition was unique not only because of the participation of several personalities, but also because works of the two artists had been displayed after a long time.

The exhibition was jointly curated by Asad Hayee and Sheraz Faisal. It will remain on display till Monday.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2016