The ready-made object continues being worked upon in the contemporary Pakistani artist’s studio. Often, this pre-existing object, intended as a piece of art in a gallery, misses the point when brought into the realm of European modern art movements that champion ready-mades that are often irrelevant to current South Asian realities.

In the case of Raheela Abro’s works, however, a specific ready-made object curiously morphs into multiple works of art that are immediately and inevitably tied to the self, collective identity and change.

The exhibition SIM (Soch, Ilm, Muqaam) by Raheela Abro conjoins cellular SIM (Subscriber Identification Module) cards with select materials and methods to communicate about the manifestation of identity in Pakistan, and the conspicuous changes — especially with respect to educational models — brought on by an ongoing pandemic.

Abro’s works are about collective identities observable in ways of living that are frequently defined by national customs, history, social interactions and religious practices. As SIM cards are owned by people for individual real-time connections, these artworks channel an energetic creative output that is revealed through significant transformation of these tiny ready-made objects.

In the work ‘Passport’, the front cover of a Pakistani passport can be seen painted on a SIM card, complete with a quintessential green background, golden lettering and state logo. In ‘CNIC’, Abro delicately paints the SIM imitating the back of a national identity card, leaving the card holder’s name as anonymous (written in Urdu), with bar codes and a thumb print. Looking at these minuscule artworks brings the viewers closer to appreciating the artist’s skill in handling motifs and designs that are rendered on a miniature scale.

Raheela Abro dexterously converts mobile SIM cards into works of art that communicate social and national identities

Additionally, the influx of online communication has added another layer of complexity in the way people conduct themselves with respect to established social norms. For Abro, these changes are reflective of individual and collective social habits that people have adopted or given up in the past year or so.

Since Abro is also an educator and researcher of reading culture and habits in educational institutes, she has been cognizant of how individuals seeking education have discarded certain practices in a bid to be more ‘virtual’ than physically present.

Several sculptures underline the loss of reading from physical books over digitised versions that are now rapidly available and in demand, especially because of studying from home and virtual educational sessions in institutions. The works “bookshelf” and “bookworm” are created with SIM cards and plexiglass that have been painted over with acrylics. ‘Open Book’ is another wonderful work created by stacking and gluing SIM cards together.

The works also allude to out-of-print editions and art books that are seldom perused in colleges and universities, unless the instructors set them as mandatory course reading materials. Sculptures such as ‘Still Life’ and ‘History of Pakistani Art’ point towards these rarer common experiences, of reading Pakistani art books that are also sometimes difficult to find.

Abro’s choice of creating these miniature sculptures mainly with SIM cards could not have been any more relevant and appropriate, considering the dearth of digital versions of Pakistani art books despite an increasing dependence on online modes of instruction.

In addition to pandemic-inspired educational practices (digital material, online sessions and conferences etc.) and official documents that dictate individual national identities, some works also indicate how Pakistanis hold their religious practices close. The work ‘Rihal’ is modelled after the wooden X-shaped bookrest that is frequently seen in our homes holding the Quran. Similarly, Abro paints SIMs resembling prayer mats with fine brush strokes.

Viewers will agree with senior educator and artist Durriya Kazi who writes in the show’s catalogue: “This new work has an immediacy and personal intensity of ‘just off the streets’ that makes it current and relevant.” Raheela Abro’s works are well-connected with current social realities.

Even more so, the use of SIM cards, in their renovation as art that can relate to many viewers, bears witness to her sheer skill and experience as a practising visual artist and educator.

SIM (Soch, Ilm, Muqaam) was on display at Canvas Gallery from July 28 till August 6, 2021

Published in Dawn, EOS, September 12th, 2021