ISLAMABAD: An exhibition by four Lahore-based artists depicting the horizontal and vertical divisions in society and the effects of unplanned chaotic urbanisation on individuals and people at large opened at Aqs Gallery on Tuesday.

Hosted by My Art World, the show, titled Urban Agglomeration, featured the work of Amal Uppal, Neha Maqsood, Waleed Zafar and Risham Faiz Bhutta. Using a mix of old and new mediums, the artists presented subtle and bold comments on the conflicts in society.

Ms Bhutta, a multifaceted artist who recently graduated from the National College of Arts, using line etching to portray internal and external chaos, and how physically occupied space can bring peace even when it is not particularly organised.

Curator Zahra Sajid said: “A perfectionist, Ms Bhutta has been working in mixed media and has produced remarkable artworks using every medium and has a keen eye to perceive things in separate dynamics, but line art is where most of her expertise lies.”

The lines used in her work all come from a real reference image; none of the lines are unintentionally or imaginatively put. They are only usually exaggerated or a minimalist subtraction from a cityscape.

She calls it something that is both chaotic and joyful at the same time. “When I travel around I always observe entangled electricity wires on poles and across the skies. No one knows which wire is going where except the linemen,” Ms Bhutta remarked.

“Countless difficulties, obstacles, problems and responsibilities, emotions, coming to you all at once and you have no way out. And now it’s a mess, a jumbled up flesh entangled nodes of unsolved issues or an irregular clustered knot of veins that have taken up all the space in your head and you have no time no capacity, no patience and no stability to solve them,” she added.

Ms Uppal’s art is primarily influenced by her roots in the walled city, its architectural heritage and studies of cityscapes under the effects of urban development as depicted in ‘Markhor’ and ‘Mile Marker’ done in Indian ink and watercolour on paper.

“Mile markers changed the way areas developed. Caravans, merchants and travellers had a standardised route guiding them across the subcontinent. The original marker was said to be the banyan tree, with its humble brick pyol [circular platform],” she said.

She added that the banyan tree is a link between Sikh, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist religious history and culture.

“The expansion we have witnessed in the past 10 years has given us an opportunity to innovate and experiment. Cities are permanently in a state of evolution and we with our deeply and entrenched history are getting the chance to evolve and revolutionise our façade yet again. However, remaining unchecked and unattended, I feel our current horizon lacks thought and direction; whether it’s planning horticulture or infrastructure there is a disconnect,” she said.

Waleed Zafar’s work was a bold comment on divisions in society and on social issues.

Mr Zafar is a graduate of Beaconhouse University. He explored various structures and patterns that exist in his surroundings, depicting common scenes such as unplanned construction in urban centres in the ‘Orange’ series, or transportation issues and population growth and the interaction of people and the various divides that exists between them in ‘Seating Capacity of Motorcycles’.

“Through observation and juxtaposition, I explore the anatomy of space in terms of power structures, the hidden overshadowing of human social politics that define every interaction in every space and the loss of identity that is prevalent in a country like Pakistan where there is an increasingly defined hierarchical class system,” he said.

Neha Maqsood, a visual artist and a graduate of Beaconhouse National University, has explored “questions of process, concealment and the undefined through the layers of colour and form”.

Her work is an amalgamation of paintings and video projections to experiment the range of possibilities allowed through text, subtle colour variation choices, composition, method of application and surface preparation, said Ms Sajid.

“She explores these queries of daily life using her painting process and her digital work of layering pictures into one image as reactions to the process of an emotional state and going back in time how things move people,” she said.

The show will continue until Dec 13.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2018