Pehli Manzil: The brave new world

It is not a new phenomenon for young artists to create alternate spaces that are less alienating than the white walls of the traditional gallery and use these spaces as a source to excogitate ideas. When the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture's (IVSAA) fine art graduating class of 2015 put together a show, titled Pehli Manzil, they chose a vacant first floor apartment in the vicinity of Denso Hall, on MA Jinnah Road, Karachi, with the aim to create parallels with the art market’s nature of inclusion and exclusion.

Most of the 14 participating artists responded to what already existed in the space and its environs, while working within the ambit of their individual styles. Upon entering the space, the antiquated house interior of patterned floors, pink walls and wrought iron banisters, evoked feelings of nostalgia that is tied with the idea of home, memory, transience and even abandonment.

Inconspicuously installed in various parts of the apartment were Affan Baghpati’s 'Mashallah' labels and installations with dishes, cups and saucers hung on walls with taxidermy parrots, presumably alighting temporarily before taking flight again. He concerns himself with imagery and objects that are considered appropriate and inappropriate for display in the private and not so private areas within the house.

Veera Rustomji painted a series of postcard pictures that would be found in a home that is temporarily empty but expecting its inhabitants to return soon. For her, family photographs are personal documents that complete a home and are not something left behind when its inhabitants leave permanently. Similarly, Fatima Nadeem’s manipulated photographs capture a dreamlike essence of a home that once was; its inhabitants may have left, but their presence lingers on and continues to be felt in the objects and spaces left behind. Sarah Mir also depicts notions of family life and propriety by juxtaposing family portraits with culturally accepted images.

Ammara Jabbar’s work delves into notions of gender. She covered the kitchen floor with a floral carpet defining it as feminine space; calling attention to how the carpet had to be cut to conform to that space. Outside the kitchen, a male space was created with a metallic sink that displayed instructions on male beautification and a pink plastic mirrored cabinet filled with everyday toiletries highlighting the daily routine of male vanity.

Using resin, Hira Khan made a bra that hung alone in the balcony, with its inner structure emphasised as light passed through it. Khan took inspiration from the drying laundry that she observed hanging on the clothes line in the neighbourhood.

Upon entering the space, the antiquated house interior of patterned floors, pink walls and wrought iron banisters, evoked feelings of nostalgia that is tied with the idea of home, memory, transience and even abandonment.

Rabia Ahmed, inspired by the hushed atmosphere of the apartment, premised her work on a fictitious tale of ducks that once inhabited Napier Road, long before people, cars and shops took over the area. In her story, the ducks are eventually driven away by a man they had given refuge to. The poignant fairytale was displayed as text and a painted image with fantastical creatures hung opposite it. Perhaps unconsciously, Ahmed highlights issues of urbanisation: of land, refugees, marginalisation, dislocation and occupation.

Other works included Maliha Saleem’s orange curtains that lent a sense of warmth and intimacy to a lived-in home; Faiza Ali’s rainbow painting with her grandmother; Maryam Arsalan’s child-like imagery on paper and exam boards; and Maryam Zaidi’s alien structures made from casts of her body placed outside and inside the apartment. The layout of the space became the defining factor for nearly all the displayed works.

In Karachi ki Kahani, writer and publisher Ajmal Kamal states that we need to relearn the art of reading the city in order to document and understand it. The young IVSAA graduates have stepped out of the studios and into the heart of the city to create art. Their understanding is evident in the way their individual works intervene the space and existing identities are woven with personal narratives. Pehli Manzil is a symbolic first step into the real world for these young talents, who have the potential to create parallels with how art is made and received in this city.

Opening image: 'Greensleeves' by Veera Rustomji, with 'Parrot on tea cup' by Affan Baghpati on the right | Maliha Saleem