This exhibition explores how artists see themselves

A new exhibition of contemporary work by three artists opened at the Nomad Gallery on Wednesday, depicting the way the artists in question look at themselves, but from an outside perspective.

“The show is about how we feel when we look at us and is more of an overview also,” the gallery’s director, Nageen Hyat, said.

The exhibited work reflects the age, experience, motivation and raw emotion of the artists through multiple mediums. The viewer is resigned to face the subjects, and sometimes forced to gaze beyond the horizon.

The exhibiting artists include Nahid Raza, known for her work depicting the role of women in society and the challenges they endure. Her observations of the life around her have been strengthened by her personal experiences, leading her to explore issues on women’s rights, violence and the expectations of society. These topics have been important in the shaping of her aesthetic vision and are visible in this new show.

The show also includes works from Ubaid Syed, a Pakistani Swedish artist known for his beautiful and eye-catching kaleidoscopic abstract landscape paintings. For this show he has contributed four brand new impressions, also abstract but figurative, a first for this show at the gallery.

The third contributing artist is Farah Mahmood Rana, a miniature artist who has learnt the traditional Indian Mughal miniature paintings and its various styles, including Mughal, Persian, Rajasthani and Pehari.

In her works, Ms Rana has dealt with a range of social and political issues, but has always been more inclined to talk about what it means to be a woman in what she describes as the dark parts of the world. For this show she also contributed contemporary miniatures that are reflective of feminism.

The works are to two to three-tiered and can be viewed from the top, when looking at ‘us’. They reflect sensitivity and emotion, which come across in the brush strokes and the use of colour. The show will run until Feb 28.

Originally published in Dawn, February 21st, 2019