PRESTON, July 13: Two promising art shows by Pakistani artists opened here to an international summertime audience at the Harris Museum & Art Gallery on Thursday.

The two month-long exhibits titled Threads, Dreams, Desires: Contemporary Art from Pakistan and Exotic Bodies: Eastern Representations of the West bring to England a taste of the contemporary fine arts and craft being produced by Pakistani artists, and the still evolving art of curating exhibitions back home. Though very different in nature, the two shows are linked in that they have that unmistakenly homely, yet exotic, appeal to them.

Threads, Dreams, Desires traces some of the strategies artists have evolved to question the canonical distinction made between art and craft by most art practitioners in Pakistan. It brings together the works of eight contemporary artists: Naazish Atta-Ullah, Ruby Chishti, Aisha Kalid, Naiza Khan, Imran Qureshi, Anwar Saeed, Masooma Syed and Risham Syed. The show is curated by Salima Hashmi.

The exhibition explores the ways in which the rich textile tradition of Pakistan has become part of the vocabulary of artists who are engaged with the current issues and concerns in the region. Not surprisingly, some artists’ work offers a direct response to the events of September 11 and after.

Threads Dreams, Desires is one of the four Commonwealth Games Cultural Programme Beacon Projects organized in conjunction with Shisha, the international agency for contemporary South Asian craft and visual arts. Other participants include Sri Lanka (Liverpool University Gallery), Bangladesh (Oldham Art Gallery) and India (Manchester Art Gallery).

The exhibition at Preston is accompanied by a second Pakistani exhibition curated by artist and critic Quddus Mirza, entitled Exotic Bodies: Eastern Representations of the West. This exhibition explores the tradition of miniature painting from the region and has been developed in partnership with the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

The show draws on the museum’s remarkable collection of miniature painting from the subcontinent and includes examples of contemporary work influenced by that tradition. But more important, it examines, as its mainstay, how the West has been depicted in art and popular culture in South Asia.

Both the Victoria & Albert Museum and Harris Museum & Art Gallery are keen to develop new models of curatorship aimed at providing artists the opportunity to apply their skills to curating shows.

Quddus Mirza was invited to curate the show as the miniature tradition is reflected in his own practice, and because he has a good understanding of contemporary art in Pakistan as well as the miniatures’ collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

The exhibition is supported by funding from the Visiting Arts, The Charles Wallace Pakistan Trust and Avencentral Partnership.

Both the shows will remain open till Sept 14, and offer admission free of charge.