Bio I grew up in Nushki, Pakistan, during the 1980s, and studied Fine Arts at Balochistan University. In 2008, I moved to Lahore to study at the National College of Arts, majoring in Sculpture. I graduated with Distinction (2013). My BA Thesis, Sustained, investigated the impact of physical and metaphorical burdens on the human form. Later sculptures and drawings have continued to enquire into this theme, exploring the effects of historic and geographical inheritances, and of contemporary political developments, through the manipulation of new materials and techniques. After graduating, I taught Sculpture at NCA, Lahore; participated in a Residency at Sanat Gallery, Karachi; completed several large-scale commissions; and exhibited extensively in Pakistan. In 2016, I moved to the UK, where I have participated in Arts Council funded projects and exhibited as a solo artist. I continue to exhibit in Pakistan, most recently at the Lahore Biennale, where I produced a site- specific sound installation. My work has been reviewed and discussed in national and international publications.
Artist Statement | The Perfect Gentleman
My practice revolves around the sufferings inflicted on mostly young, male bodies as a result of having been born into a particular time and place. These sculptures emerged as a result of a combination of factors. Firstly, there was a search for iconic references. Then, there was an experimentation with materials whose form, properties and qualities catch at my imagination. These included balloons, with their suggestion of escape and flight; picture frames, in which images of lost loved ones might be lodged; and gold paint, symbolising the inheritance of a people for whom this wealth is as much a burden as a benefit. The result is a series of fragile, gilded offerings: golden bowls or magic cauldrons which an owner might display with pride, and yet within which reside emaciated, emasculated bodies. And I riddle through what the victory is for the possessor of such potent objects when trapped and broken spirits are the prize.
Artist Statement | I, too, am a part of this history
We are tied to the spaces we call home, and to the people who belong to us; so much depends on the fortunes of the things we love. If suddenly these relationships are broken off, if our connection with a person or place upon whom we depend is severed, our lives will be devastated irreversibly. Coming from Nushki in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, I have for a long time watched such separations, deprivations and displacements occurring, and as an artist I feel forced to consider them and the strain they place on ordinary people. What I am trying to communicate, is peoples’ desire to realise their human rights and to benefit from what belongs to them.
We are tied to the spaces we call home, and to the people who belong to us; so much depends on the fortunes of the things we love. If suddenly these relationships are broken off, if our connection with a person or place upon whom we depend is severed, our lives will be devastated irreversibly. Coming from Nushki in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, I have for a long time watched such separations, deprivations and displacements occurring, and as an artist I feel forced to consider them and the strain they place on ordinary people. What I am trying to communicate, is peoples’ desire to realise their human rights and to benefit from what belongs to them.
