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Pakistan’s culture is under a massive reformation at the hands of its youth and emerging talent. This collective effort is a revolutionary moment for Pakistan’s identity as the sound of tradition is being renewed through music, fashion being given new contemporary strokes, and in the very souls of Pakistani youth in their daily lives. Music and art are two features that have become the defining element of modern-day Pakistan. We can proudly declare the sounds of our nation have been inaugurated on a global scale at the hands of female artists, namely Shae Gill’s Pasoori (INCPak) which made its rank into YouTube’s list of global top music videos, and Arooj Aftab, the first Pakistani musician to win a Grammy and perform at Coachella (The News).
The reimagining of culture to project a new identity is no-less formidably influenced by modern artworks protruding from the walls in galleries and curatorial exhibitions within the international spectrum. Among the critically acclaimed artists stands out Misha Japanwala, who recently came to fame by boldly challenging the notion of pardah (veil) by casting women’s bodies and celebrating femininity. Pardah, already a trivial issue for Pakistani women, is challenged by Japanwala through her directly harnessing various female bodies to
become the very gilded sculptures recognised internationally. Female bodies are an ever-present, physical matter braving against the multi-faceted violence Pakistani women face. Japanwala’s art highlights in bold the casual occurrence of these tragedies. Controversy towards the casted body parts induces a metaphorical dimension to the meaning succeeding the artworks. Her art form becomes a method of historical documentation that is slowly but surely doing its part in overcoming themes of shame and commodification, inspiring resistance within women by emphasising bodily autonomy (Elle Magazine).
Artists like Marium Agha take the traditional aspects of art-making practice, adding new layers of meaning. Her methodic approach towards breaking down traditional art forms begins by decomposing century-old art movements, for example, Rococo, and by tampering with the artistic elements, she creates an entirely new narrative. Some of her more famously known works include Eat My Heart Out (2016) and Tell the Wolves I am Home (2018) (Hemple Arts). Both pieces have been produced by selecting old tapestries (embroidery) Agha discovers in bazaars and manipulates their weaving by pulling apart the threads and layering paint in the existing embroidery to provoke meaning and urge a shift in perspective.
[left: Eat My Heart Out (2016)
right: Tell the Wolves I am Home (2018)]
Agha reportedly believes that the intrigue behind her work is the permanence of weaving thread, which cannot be undone. Using her art, Agha demonstrates how the old becomes a foundational source for what is new to build upon, guiding and informing the relevant particularities of the evolving modern age. In doing so, the presented images of her works develop a language that becomes sacred between the viewer and the art.
The intricacy of a story illustrated by the act of sewing empowers the unique question each of her artworks poses to the audience, always swaying to and fro between objectivity and subjectivity. Both Japanwala and Agha, recognised by art critics, have escalated the frequency at which art moves beyond common dwellings and instead ushers in freedom of the new age.
Contributing to breaking prejudice against racial identity is another remarkable artist, namely Shahzia Sikander, who’s marvellous sculptures tower over residents of New York City atop the Manhattan courthouse and in Madison Square Park (The Art Newspaper). Sikander’s sculptures appear daunting in their bronze tones when juxtaposed against the stone frames of Grecian and Roman sculptures as their blatant promiscuous sense of culture dismantles ideas of colonial history.
[left: Witness (2023) right: NOW (2023)]
The abstract quality of the horns and coils replacing arms on both sculptures shift the focus from admiration towards the body and instead converse with history from an oriental lens. A passing glance at Sikander’s sculptures will, without a doubt, hold viewers rooted in their spot, making a statement on the burden-laid history. Gazing up at a female figure standing tall beside the masculine statues atop the courthouse is, in itself, a commentary on resistance.
In art history, the term canon can be understood as the ideal standard acting as a measurement unit applied to gauge the worthiness of other artworks. It dictates certain art pieces hold indisputable qualities over other works, but with every step, our country’s women take by unapologetically producing their art, they are breaking boundaries. Pakistani women are leading the evolution of topics that have gone unacknowledged for far too long, becoming the new faces of Pakistani identity across the globe. They are displaying their brilliance while shaping our understanding of art, its forms, and its multidimensional ability to communicate with varying audiences, rewriting the canon and going against it at the same time.
16th August, 2023
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