LAHORE: An exhibition of photographs and paintings by Akhtar Mummunka and Sapna Khan will open at the Nairang Art Gallery on Saturday (today).

With his works based on the Cholistan desert, Akhtar Mummunka poetically depicts the desert vistas on the canvas. His time in Madrid, Spain, presented him with the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the most influential European and Latin American painters and art critics. His first solo exhibition in Madrid launched his painting career in Europe after which he exhibited in Barcelona and Ciudad Real (Spain), Lisbon (Portugal), Cap D’Agde (France), and Alexandria and Cairo (Egypt).

In Pakistan, he has had solo exhibitions at the World Bank Gallery (Islamabad), Hamail Art Gallery (Lahore), and Indus Gallery (Karachi).

Akhtar’s daughter Sapna Khan’s works are influenced by literature and cinema. She focuses on narratives and storytelling, an approach she utilises in the realms of advertising and photojournalistic, and editorial photography.

A journalism graduate of the University of Westminster (UK), she went on to obtain a postgraduate diploma in photography from the Spéos Photographic Institute in Paris. She has exhibited her works at the Spéos Gallery (France), and the Brick Lane Gallery (UK). Mentioned in the 2016 International Photography Awards, Sapna is currently based in Lahore. Her work has been published in Forbes Magazine. Both father and daughter, Akhtar and Sapna, have explored the legend of Cholistan, the civilisation that was erased from history, through the kinetic images.

The two artists followed the trail of the desert nomads that are forever travelling through the drifting sands, hoping that their yearning will beckon the river to flow through their land once again. Some 15 photographs and 25 paintings are on display at the exhibition. The exhibition will continue till Oct 28.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Javed, the moving spirit behind the Coopera Art Gallery, The Mall, and a veteran artist, will exhibit his artworks at the National College of Arts (NCA) on Oct 19.

A book by him on his own life and works will also be launched on the occasion. It has been edited by Dr Shaukat Mehmood.

Veteran artists will get together and share golden memories of the days when they used to study at the NCA or the College of Art and Design of the University of Punjab.

Javed is holding the exhibition of his artworks after a gap of about a decade as his last exhibition was held at Alhamra in 2006.

The artworks, mostly oil paintings, will be on display at the exhibition and the major theme of the artworks would revolve around social and cultural issues.

Dr Ajaz Anwar, Mian Ejazul Hassan, NCA Principal Dr Murtaza Jafri, College of Art and Design Principal Dr Shahida Manzoor and a number of other artists and students from different art institutions are likely to visit the exhibition.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2016