LONDON: The Pakistan High Commission on Wednesday honoured artwork showcased at the ‘Pavilion of Pakistan’ at the international Venice biennale.

The show, which opened early in May, features the work of Naiza Khan as curated by Zahra Khan of Foundation Art Divvy. The exhibition has been presented by the Pakistan National Council of the Arts and Foundation Art Divvy and ends on Nov 24. It has attracted about 100 visitors daily since it opened, a figure that organisers say boasts of its success.

“We know what a wonderful art scene Pakistan has, how strong its art universities and sector are,” said curator Zahra Khan. “This [exhibit] showcases a different aspect of the country at this important international stage as one that is looking to the future.”

In the past, Pakistani artists have been selected to show by the curators of Venice. However, this biennale marked Pakistan’s first official participation as a national pavilion. The Venice biennale is the oldest such event in the world, and is divided into the curated and national sections. The pavilion was a joint effort of the PNCA and Foundation Art Divvy, a public-private partnership which allowed it to become a reality.

Event celebrates publication of catalogue which documents show in Venice

“When I was thinking about who and what to show, I thought about the similarities between Karachi and Venice, as well as Manora Island. I’ve been following Naiza’s work for many years, and I felt that her exploration of this changing landscape speaks to many important global concerns in terms of migration and changing ecologies,” Zahra added.

Artist Naiza Khan said: “Manora Field Notes is in some ways a homage to Manora Island and the port of Karachi. There are interesting parallels between Karachi and Venice — both are port cities within historic transnational trade routes, who have had to negotiate modernity and industrialisation.”

The event at the Pakistan mission was held especially to celebrate the publication of a catalogue, titled ‘Manora Field Notes’, which encapsulates Naiza’s show and highlights her practice as a process of critical research, documentation and mapping-based exploration. Artist Naiza and curator Zahra were joined in conversation with art historian and catalogue contributor Emilia Terracciano.

The catalogue documents the pavilion through richly printed photographs of multimedia installations as well as images of archival material and the artistic production process. It includes a text by Zahra, reflections by scholars Iftikhar Dadi, Aamir R. Mufti and Terracciano, along with insightful text by Naiza on her creative process that offers depth to the understanding of the complex exhibition.

Salah M. Hassan, the director of the African studies and research center and professor in the department of art history at Cornell University, says of the book: “This is a must-read book, not only as a companion to the Venice installation, but also as a repository of succinct interventions by major scholars and critics of South Asian cultural and art historical studies.”

For Manora Field Notes, the artist has drawn upon her archive of images, objects and observations recording the evolution of the Manora Island located off the harbour of Karachi. The exhibition investigates how the reshaping of the island landscape reflects wider changes across the region, and conveys larger concerns of post-colonial histories, climate change and displacement.

Pakistan’s High Commissioner in the UK, Nafees Zakaria, said: “We endeavour to support the art and culture of Pakistan. Bringing part of the display at Venice to London was an opportunity that this High Commission availed for art lovers in the UK to hear directly from both Naiza Khan and Zahra Khan.”

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2019