ISLAMABAD: Fascinating works depicting a fusion of the present with the past, while keeping a balance between modernity and tradition have been put on display at the Khaas Gallery.

The title of the exhibition is Commixture. The artist Ursula Kiesling, born in Austria, attempted to sort of reinterpret the miniature style of painting, creating an alternative technique; for instance, she used English on the borders instead of the former language.

The works highlight how people remain trapped in the same pattern as history repeats itself and how each generation thus forth faces the same problems.

Ms Kiesling staged several disparate dramas and story lines on the same platform, with the potential to intersect and contribute to a larger narrative; fictitious scenes, like news headlines, have been riddled with larger-than-life drama yet her images, like all art, is an imitation of reality.

The artist has tried to reveal to the viewer the idea of life in abundance: chaotic, rich, complex, and tumultuous. The world represented in her work seems to be a mixture of passions, hopes and motivations, where contrasting moods like joy and tragedy run side by side.

Ms Kiesling used a bright and radiant colour palette to show rather unpleasant scenes. To add her own spin to the work she used water colour while setting aside the traditional gouache on wasli method.

Some of the works reveal the splendour attached with matrimonial ceremonies in the country and how people continue to remain obsessed with them. By doing this, Ms Kiesling provided visitors a gateway into her own thoughts and the lens through which she views Pakistani society.

“This is a collection of stories that face dilemmas of our contemporary life in Pakistan. The way these stories are pictured reflects a playground for exploring the relationship between epic drama, as known from mythology and traditional visual storytelling from the era of the Mughal Empire.

“Coming as a European ex-pat to Pakistan I found myself first and foremost in a specific form of exchange within a specific framework and specific social conditions. Being aware of this exchange I cannot avoid that my artistic acting is multi-dimensional. I was lucky to find myself invited to several Pakistani weddings. The traditions of these weddings go way back and link to the customs and culture of the Indian subcontinent”, the artist said on the opening day.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2021