Our contemporary miniature has proved time and again that ‘small is big’ and the recent “Major Miniaturists” show at the Unicorn Art Gallery, Karachi, examining the big world in small spaces, is a case in point. Intricately worked and audaciously conceived the current miniatures attraction lies in the punches it delivers and this exhibition has its fair share of thumps and knocks.

Featuring artists with established signatures, the art on view is eclectic rather than thematic in nature. Primarily centered on political conflicts within the South Asian context, its shared history, geography, religious and socio-cultural climate, some works also dwell on gender sensitivities, fantasy and idealised beauty.

Showing a Saira Wasim original is something of a scoop for Unicorn. Based in the US, this National College of Arts (NCA) miniature graduate’s work has garnered considerable critical acclaim on the international circuit but has seldom, if at all, been exhibited in Karachi. Her critique of local politics, religious fundamentalism, repression and Western cultural imperialism is very sharp and pointed. Her infusions of humour, created with peppery comic mixes of Western pop, Lollywood and Bollywood iconography, vivid references of Renaissance art and images of major political figures add further pungency to the inherent message.

The exhibited miniatures, ‘On the prowl’ and ‘The garden party’ are oblique but tame in comparison to her usually riotous, in your face compositions. ‘The garden party’ painting has a pretty picture appeal. Set in a landscape featuring Mughal / Persian miniature characteristics the farshi floor seating and formal white table cloth evoke colonial era juxtapositions. The female subjects, reinvented versions of women in famous paintings, are given a new identity as members of Wasim’s ‘Garden Party’. Foremost is the artist’s self-portrait, opposite her is Wasim’s depiction of ‘Girl with a pearl earring’, one of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer’s masterworks. Among the two women in the rear one is the demure attendant in French painter Édouard Manet’s last major work, ‘A bar at the Folies-Bergère’ and the dark skinned lady is a ‘Portrait d’une négresse’ painted in 1800 by Marie-Guilhelmine Benoist. A thoughtful look reveals that there is more than just tea brewing in this attractive but staid and formally arranged garden party — it translates into a gracious clash of civilisations.

A 15-artist show that is eclectic rather than thematic in nature

Another foreign (Australian) resident Khadim Ali first made his mark here with his “Jashn-i-Gul-i-Surkh” series, a covert rendition of genocide a of minority community. His subsequent “Rustam” series, inspired by heroes and legends of the Persian epic poem, Shahnameh (Book of kings) brought him wide international acclaim. His exhibited miniatures feature overlapping / merging images of the Bamiyan Buddhas, wrestling lions, satanic demons and finely penned poetic scriptures. This art of pain defines the traumas associated with deliberate defacement of culture, heritage and ethnic identity.

Pain as metaphor has also been well exemplified by Attiya Shaukat through her personal narrative. Having suffered paralysis, the artist’s oeuvre has always centered on images of spinal columns, vertebrae and surgical instruments. Her ‘Patterns of politics’ painting revolves around the ‘dialogues delivered during pre-to-post elections 2013’ while in ‘Bits and pieces’ she employs the technique of splitting, splicing and overlaying to create disjointed imagery reminiscent of her disrupted / dislocated existence. Another variation of emotional and physical pain — the effects of war and destruction on the human body — is acutely evident in Imran Mudassar’s singular images of festering wounds and deep injuries.

Separating and reassembling image fragments to tell stories of the East / West schisms, ruptures from tradition or political inconsistencies is a popular practice within the contemporary miniature genre and works by Amjad Ali Talpur, Imran Channa, Safdar Qureshi, Asif Ahmed and Waseem Ahmed in the show are testimonials of their expertise and individual takes on this technique.

Irfan Hasan continues to soar on the vein of fantasy. Negotiating the intangible Mudassar Manzoor and Reza ur Rehman’s sensitively rendered miniature’s explore the realm of the soul with deep sincerity. The aura of Romanticism can be a welcome relief in a sea of anxious, edgy art and veteran Khalid Saeed Butt’s paintings, conforming to the purist vein of miniature art delight the eye with their delicacy, radiance and sheer dreaminess.

Context is important in viewing / reading contemporary miniatures and the varied nature of this show requires extended engagement to understand the gravity of the issues dealt with (especially with regard to the few exhibiting artists who belong to minorities).

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, November 30th, 2014