ISLAMABAD: An international art show titled Uprooted featuring the work of two Swedish artists opened in the capital on Tuesday.

The artists, Maria Backman and Hanna Sjoberg, have displayed around two dozen paintings in watercolour and oil on canvas, as well as drawings and photographs, at the Nomad Art Gallery.

The unique pieces depict displacement, disorder and upheaval in nature and society, forming an intriguing narrative.

The artists have combined various mediums to create a connection between the soil, subconscious and nature through magical figures, colour patters and photographs.

The show was opened by Swedish Ambassador Ingrid Johansson, who flew back from Stockholm this morning.

“I feel good starting my official diplomatic work of the new year with the opening of an art show of two Swedish artists,” the ambassador said.

She added that although there have been some art exhibitions featuring Pakistani artists in Sweden during her tenure as envoy, this is the first independent show of two Swedish artists without the involvement of her embassy.

Ambassador Johansson highlighted the need to arrange more such exchanges of artists between Sweden and Pakistan.

This was echoed by Nageen Hyat, Nomad’s director and curator, who said the association between the exhibiting artists and the gallery began when they visited Islamabad in 2010 and exhibited their work at Nomad.

“We have kept the presentation of the exhibits consciously in a rough, whimsical and informal manner so that the viewers could enjoy them,” Ms Hyat.

“It’s quintessentially exploring the subconscious through various visual elements, beyond boundaries,” she said.

Ms Sjoberg’s medium is watercolour, while Ms Backman captured the destruction of nature through the lens and treated the images digitally.

“I took these photographs in a roadside forest on my way to Dalarna,” she told Dawn. These trees were uprooted by a massive storm that ripped through southern and western Sweden some years ago, she said.

The photographs have an ecological message and global relevance given the destruction of forests in Australia, Brazil and California.

Maria’s drawings on paper from the ‘Greenland’ series highlights the issues of powerlessness and the agonies of displacement, labour, refugee and internment camps in Sweden during the Second World War.

A large painting done in oil on canvas with a geometrical image by Maria was main attraction of the show. The green and black painting creates an illusion and compels the viewer to engage in a conversation.

In these pieces of combined work, we explore subconscious and unexpected connections, Ms Backman said.

A joint statement from the artists said: “We want to open up minds – unknown worlds and shapes are emerging from something unspoken in nature into coloured structure.”

Last Sunday, the artists conducted a day-long skills working on textile weaving along with Canada-based Pakistani textile designer Farooq Ahmed. They taught 15 students and two teachers from the Saya Schoolhow to recycle fabric into rugs.

The exhibition will run until Jan 15 from 11am to 7pm every day but except for Friday.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2020