KARACHI: Arif Mahmood is one of Pakistan’s distinguished photographers. His remarkable work in photojournalism and fashion photography has, over the course of four decades, earned him tremendous respect among his contemporaries and a big number of admirers. An exhibition of his photographs titled The Unbearable Solitude of the Third Eye – A Photography Retrospective (1985-2025) began at the Mohatta Palace Museum on Saturday evening.
It was inaugurated by Dr Adibul Hasan Rizvi, the founder of the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT).
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Mahmood said it’s a great honour for him to be exhibited at the venue (Mohatta Palace Museum). “I don’t want to talk about my work because I want you [guests] to see it and have your own perspectives on them. It’s 40 years of work. I have just landed yesterday [from Islamabad]. So I’m ‘trying to absorb it’.”
He thanked the Mohatta Palace Museum and its team for putting together the show, and the Dawn group for supporting it. “And of course the curators, Hamid Akhund and Hameed Haroon. Through them, I have learned and grown in the art world. They are institutions in culture and art. I keep on learning with the camera,” he said.
Work of distinguished photojournalist Arif Mahmood is on display at Mohatta Palace Museum
DawnMedia CEO Hameed Haroon said the gathering was relatively small because in a way it’s a family gathering plus for the museum. “It is a way of both looking back and looking forward. Looking back means, by the 1980s, with the martial law government and its ideological bent, it was clear that the space for art was being stifled throughout the country… By the mid-1990s, it was clear that an active programme of interaction in the field of art with institutions would need to be developed in Karachi,” he said.
He said it was during that period that Mr Mahmood’s career began. “I have worked with Arif Mahmood for 35 to 40 years. I have never once complimented him on the quality of his work. I have always been demanding and pushing him.”
“The time has now come to take Arif Mahmood seriously,” he said and urged art collectors and those with modest budgets and high ambitions to try and acquire pieces of documentation because they’re spectacular in quality and would be a worthwhile addition to their collection.
“Arif Mahmood today is one of the most potent, experienced and skilled photographers in this country,” Mr Haroon said.
After the speeches and the formal opening of the exhibition, guests walked into the halls of the museum.
The show is divided into four parts: ‘The city by the sea,’ ‘Endeavours of the spirit,’ ‘Citadels of light’ and ‘Legacies in stone.’
Prior to that, a sculpture of Dr Rizvi made by renowned artist Fakira was presented to him as a gift on behalf of the trustees of the Mohatta Palace Museum.
Speaking about that, Hamid Akhund said, “Sometime back, we decided that we’d gift something to Adib sahib. The problem was how to do it. He wouldn’t agree. This is the time, when I think I can do that.”
The exhibition will remain open for a week from 11am to 6pm with the gallery being closed on Monday.
Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2026
