ISLAMABAD: The 18th anniversary show of Gallery6, which opened on Saturday, weaves together 24 distinct artistic voices, each probing the intimate relationship between identity and expression, transforming personal geography into universal language.

The show is a testament to the gallery’s remarkable journey from its founding in March 2008 to becoming the capital metropolis’s largest private art space.

Under the stewardship of philanthropist, curator and artist Arjumand Faisel, the gallery has mounted over 140 exhibitions and carried Pakistani art to Australia, India and the United States.

The exhibition brings together 24 distinguished and upcoming artists whose works collectively map Pakistan’s evolving art scene.

The gallery has consistently “moved beyond the conventional role of an exhibition space,” pioneering thematic shows, talks, art retreats, app-based auctions, and most significantly, the National Biennial Arjumand Painting Award (2015), which has nurtured emerging talent nationwide.

Among the artworks on display are Akram Dost’s figurative paintings that command attention. His twisted faces and decaying flesh bear witness to inequality and violence.

“My art is both documentation and resistance,” a philosophy that manifests in his acrylic-on-wood works. Alongside him, Asif Ahmed revisits colonial-era photographs through graphite, watercolour and tea stains, evoking “memories of pain, loss, and sacrifice” in The Khidmatgaar (servant).

Ali Abbas Syed’s watercolours, rooted in the Thar Desert and Sindh’s Sufi traditions, preserve what he calls “a spiritual and cultural heritage.” His series, Mi-Raqsam and Gard Baad (dusty wind) sing with the region’s nomadic spirit.

Meanwhile, senior artist R.M. Naeem offers transcendence through silence: “Silence is nature’s purest language,” he reflects in his Journey of Transcendence series.

Senior artist Mansoor Rahi’s works are deeply personal response to the world around him – from the tranquil mountain landscapes to the turmoil of social and political unrest. Blending abstraction with figuration, Rahi’s work has evolved through cubism, expressionism, and neo-social realism. His paintings remain representational even in abstraction, a language distinctly his own.

The curator’s own works from his latest couple series are observational studies of couples across decades, revealing changing behaviours from the excitement of twenties to the quiet presence of old age.

Kiran Saleem’s diptych, When the World Turned Cold, confronts maternal grief with devastating honesty, while legendary artist and poet Sadequain’s rare sketches including calligraphy of “liberty, equality, fraternity” and verses from Faiz, remind us why the master declared himself “not a drawing room artist” but “an artist of the gutter.”

Ali Azmat’s painting The Sword is a figurative composition and a bold political comment.

Senior artist Meher Afroze layers acrylics with gold and silver leaf, thread, and handmade paper for meditative effect. Moazzam Ali bends watercolour’s “rigid” reputation, painting the women and pitchers of Thar until “the rhythm takes over.”

Meher Afroze layers gold leaf and thread for meditative inquiry; Moazzam Ali bends watercolour’s supposed rigidity into flowing rhythm; Mobina Zuberi distills emotion into pure form on Nepalese paper. Senior artists like Hajra Mansoor anchor the collection in classical beauty, while Mohammad Zeeshan launches quantum provocations about existence itself.

From Shahla Rafi’s painful, hopeful landscapes to Shireen Gheba’s resilient trees, these works share a conviction that art serves cultural, personal, spiritual memories.

This anniversary show celebrates not merely eighteen years of achievement, but the shared conviction that art can connect, inspire, and transform society.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2026