Lahore Museum's 'satanic' statue is gone. Should it have been displayed there?

A 20-feet-high 'satanic' sculpture has been the cause of much controversy at the Lahore Museum since its placement in its front gardens last week.

The sculpture, striking due to its size and grotesque features, was criticised for its alleged portrayal of the devil and inappropriateness for its historic venue. Following the criticism, the sculpture was first covered and then removed from the museum's premises.

A high court petition was also filed by lawyer Ambreen Qureshi, who called for the sculpture's removal saying it is "of no historical, scientific cultural or educational value" and that "the Lahore Museum falls under the historical buildings of Pakistan and placing the statue in question belittles and disrespects not only its historical but cultural value."

The notice stresses that it's "not against the art" but "the Lahore Museum is not the place" for the sculpture and that "maybe this calls for Punjab to establish a modern art museum".

The sculpture is the creation of Punjab University fine arts graduate Irbaat ul Hassan, who said to Images that there were "no devilish thoughts behind the creation". Instead, the intention was to portray "the negativity and darkness in humankind" with this man-animal hybrid.

"When I was [in the phase of] sketching this sculpture, the Zainab case was ongoing and it left me sleepless for nights. I couldn't understand how a person could fall so low. The fact that we call such a man an animal, how far a man can become wild, it inspired the work," he further explained to Images about his man-animal hybrid.

He says soon after being displayed at Punjab University's thesis exhibition in September 2018, the transferred to the Lahore Museum for an upcoming exhibition.

"The work turned out to be larger than expected so it was placed in the grounds," explained Uzma Usmani, an exhibition officer at Lahore Museum who was corresponding with Irbaat for his work. "The public really enjoyed the work and took selfies with it. Randomly one morning we saw in the news that the statue had started to provoke a negative response and we decided to remove it."

When asked how the museum would address criticism that the sculpture's removal impinges on the artist's freedom of expression, Usmani said that it was necessary to protect the interests of the museum.

"The museum is a sensitive place and we do not want any negative light to come to it. The exhibition we planned was an innocent, humble attempt to make the museum a more open place. We've been criticised that we don't welcome people, so the exhibition was an attempt to break that image.

"But a museum is not for confusion, it's for education. If people weren't able to understand our message, then it's our duty to remove it. We're not here for fasaad. The statue was not a museum artefact or property, it was for temporary display anyway."

When asked to comment on the ethics of the sculpture's removal, veteran artist and educationist Salima Hashmi, who is also on the board of directors of Lahore Museum, says she does not know how the sculpture arrived there in the first place. "In museums all over the world, the decision to commission and display works is taken by an expert committee. I don't believe this sculpture was vetted by any experts. If it was, this tamasha would never have taken place."

She elaborated, "I'm not talking about what the piece was about, but the aesthetics expected from a work placed in a museum of international repute. The sculpture did not meet the standards of works placed within the precincts of the Lahore Museum, which houses great works of antiquity. Of course, we can commission works by new, young artists but there has to be process [involving experts]. Only then can anyone defend the placement of a work of art in the museum."