ISLAMABAD: An exhibition featuring the works of National College of Arts Rawalpindi graduates, titled Embankment, opened at the Nomad Art Gallery on Tuesday.

Featuring Sanam Seema Mangi, Bilal Kazmi, Ayesha Shuja, Amira Khalid, Ayesha Ashraf, Fatima Manzar, Safwan Bashir and Adil Riaz, the exhibited works include contemporary miniatures, 3D work and installations.

Nomad founder Nageen Hyat, speaking at the exhibition’s inauguration, described it as “a collection of art with purpose and profundity by eight young artists”.

“Their skill mingles with creativity, whether in the fine drawings, light boxes, delicate crochet, installation, subtle tones, understated hues or well-chosen media.”

Ms Shuja’s pieces are inclined towards the concept of fat-shaming in society and the idealism surrounding a perfect body.

Her art pieces were literal book pages from Grey’s Anatomy that were metaphorically used to enhance statements directed at an overweight person.

She further elaborated on the concept with light boxes that portrayed how people might assume an x-ray of a fat person. Through her art, Ms Shuja portrays the torment and the specific effect of hatred directed at an overweight person’s emotions and conduct.

Mr Bashir’s conceptual paintings challenged the stigma associated with a bearded person. In one of his self portraits he questioned the directed emotional assault by society on characterising any bearded person as a terrorist.

His other pieces dealt with the suffocation of a concrete jungle. Through his cityscapes, he demonstrated how each bricked wall is in essence a bird cage that restricts freedom and the ability to fly.

Other conceptual artists, such as Ms Mangi and Ms Ashraf, demonstrated personal experiences in subtle illustrations. Ms Mangi’s art focused on her obsession with sleep and through a contrasting medium of greys and multicolour scribbles, she made self-portraits of how her sleep occupies most of her existence.

Ms Ashraf’s miniature and crochet display was also a breath of fresh air.

As a contemporary artist, her detailed demonstration of a repetitive meditative cycle through shades of grey, threads of colour, an intricate web of crochet and the eventual painting of cutting it all off was a virtuously executed concept.

Mr Kazmi packed a punch with his take on contemporary graffiti, also known wall-chalking, and portraying them in a literal context.

In one instance, he took the ‘Go Nawaz Go’ slogan and turned the former prime minister into an athlete, while another take interpreted graffiti in Pindi that said ‘Kami Don’ as Pablo Escobar committing brutalities.

Finally, a brilliant depiction of marital life was presented by Ms Manzar. Her work comprised a moving video in which she and her husband acted and became portraitures of Mughal royalties.

Her work on the one hand depicted her love and reverence for her husband by portraying him as a Mughal raja and yet in other paintings she emphasised her own importance in his life as someone who completes the missing pieces of a puzzle.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2018