Contemporary Pakistani Printmakers The Festival of Muslim Cultures - Sarah Hopkins 2 Talking Prints - Salima Hashami 3 Fatima Saeed 4 Laila Rahman 6 Afshar Malik 8 Anwar Saeed 10 Muhammad Atif Khan 12 Imran Ahmad 14 Naiza Khan Contemporary 16 Naazish Ata-Ullah Pakistani 18 Sameera Khan Printmakers 20 Samina Iqbal 22 Zaira Ahmad 24 Ali Raza 26 Swansea Print Workshop 28 Talking Prints - Salima Hashami - Welsh 30 Talking Prints - Salima Hashami - Urdu 31 Tour Dates and Acknowledgments 32 Outside cover - Naiza Khan ‘Her hair - Mirror image’ 2/3 2002 (w88.5cm x h62cm) Inside cover - Atif Khan ‘The Moon and the Darkness 1’ hand painted intaglio 1997 (w48cm x h43cm) The Festival of Muslim Cultures Gˆwyl Diwylliannau Moslemaidd The Festival of Muslim Culture is a year-long celebration Mae’r Wylˆ Diwylliannau Moslemaidd yn ddathliad of arts, humanities, education and discourse that seeks blwyddyn gron o’r celfyddydau, y dyniaethau, addysg ac to foster an improved understanding and appreciation ymddiddanion sy’n ceisio meithrin gwell dealltwriaeth a for Muslim culture. Major events and exhibitions have gwerthfawrogiad o’r diwylliant Moslemaidd. Trefnwyd been organised across the United Kingdom in which digwyddiadau ac arddangosfeydd pwysig ar draws y moderate Muslim voices can be heard, and negative Deyrnas Unedig er mwyn clywed lleisiau cymedrol stereotypes challenged. The project was conceived in Moslemaidd a herio stereoteipio negyddol. Crëwyd y 2002 and its patron appointed, HRH Prince of Wales. syniad yn 2002 a phenodwyd y noddwr, sef Ei Fawrhydi A vast programme of events has been developing since Tywysog Cymru. Mae rhaglen enfawr o ddigwyddiadau then, inspired by the belief that the arts can play a role wedi’i datblygu ers hynny, wedi’i hysbrydoli gan y gred in changing society for the better by enabling people to bod gan y celfyddydau rôl wrth newid cymdeithas er enter into the experiences of others. gwell drwy alluogi pobl i fynd i mewn i brofiadau pobl eraill. Under the Festival banner, Swansea Print Workshop has established a powerful and unique partnership with Dan faner yr Wyl,ˆ mae Gweithdy Printio Abertawe wedi printmakers from Pakistan, who have been invited to sefydlu partneriaeth gref ac unigryw gyda gwneuthurwyr share their work with communities across the country. printiau ym Mhacistan, a wahoddwyd i rannu eu gwaith Alongside this, we have organised a dynamic gyda chymunedau ar draws y wlad. Ochr yn ochr â hyn, programme of activities, which will introduce new rydym wedi trefnu rhaglen fywiog o weithgareddau, a cultural dimensions into the lives of young people, their fydd yn cyflwyno dimensiynau diwylliannol newydd i teachers, community groups and professional artists in fywydau pobl ifanc, eu hathrawon, grwpiau cymunedol South Wales, thus having a profound and lasting ac arlunwyr proffesiynol yn Ne Cymru, a thrwy hynny, yn impact on those involved. cael dylanwad dwfn a pharhaol ar y rheiny sy’n cymryd rhan. Sarah Hopkins Project Manager Sarah Hopkins Rheolwr Prosiect 2 www.festivalofmuslimcultures.org Talking Prints Contemporary printmaking in Pakistan presents a The diversity in processes and passions of these young pattern of dormant stretches punctuated by vibrant artists inspired yet another generation to probe deeper blossomings. The chronic lack of printmaking facilities, into visual legacies and contentious juxtapositionings. underscored by sporadic patronage and laconic public The tumult in Pakistani socio-political life has provided a interest, leaves it to the dedicated individual practitioner sometimes subtle, sometimes strident, backdrop for to nurture and nudge printmaking towards its creative these artistic journeys. Consecutive oppressive political potential. While the history of printmaking in Pakistan regimes instigated a vocal women’s movement in the originates in the nineteenth century with the arts, alongside a surprising revival of the Moghul establishment of a studio at the Mayo School of Arts in miniature, both of which encouraged a reverence for Lahore, its rejuvenation is barely two decades old. tradition together with a desire to subvert its nostalgia. The Mayo School was the venue for the first lithography Painters and printmakers like Ali Raza, Quddus Mirza, and relief printing facility which undertook public Akram Dost, Shahzia Sikandar, Bani Abidi, Atif Khan, commissions under the watchful guidance of its Nazia Khan and Samina Iqbal in Lahore found parallel founding Principal, Lockwood Kipling, sculptor and practitioners in Karachi, where until then Mehr Afroz father of Rudyard Kipling. had trod a lonely path. Naiza Khan was immediately welcomed as a printmaker of promise on her arrival Among the many artists connected to the Mayo School from Britain. Her work fused many strands of mark of Arts were Abdur Rahman Chughtai and Anwar Jalal making in painting, print and drawing. The centrality of Shemza. Chughtai was steeped in a predilection for the her themes to do with feminity, sexuality and physicality Muslim heritage in ornament and his etchings and echoes the works of other printmakers at the Indus aquatints complemented his highly stylized wash Valley School of Art and Architecture and National paintings. He was much admired but found few College of Arts. Young artists continue to struggle with followers. A.J. Shemza, on the other hand, armed with the complexities of medium and message in a society a fresh visual language acquired as a student at the that is in a state of flux. Among them are Sameera Slade School of Fine Arts in the late 50’s, bridged the Khan, Fatima Saeed, Zaira Ahmed and Imran Ahmed, ‘yearning for the past’ with the imperatives of the who like other printmakers address layered realities with present. A devotee of Paul Klee, Shemza explored links creative tenacity. between Klee’s hieroglyphic notations and the elegant linearities of his own calligraphic tradition. Pakistani Printmakers are now venturing into the multiplicities offered by digital technology with aplomb, But this was distant from printmaking activity in the rest while simultaneously sifting through competing issues of Pakistan, which had settled into a long hibernation. of identities, histories and relevance. Not that Pakistani artists did not delve into the discipline now and again. Artists were exploring a Salima Hashami variety of processes both inside Pakistan and abroad. Among them were Naz Ikramullah, Nahid Azfar, Shahid Sajjad, Ahmed Khan, Zahoorul Akhlaq, Mehr Afroze Professor Salima Hashmi is an artist who has exhibited and Mansoora Hassan. However, the institutional widely in Pakistan and internationally. She is both a framework needed for the propagation of practice was curator and writer who has published extensively on art either missing, or woefully inadequate. in Pakistan. Among her major publications is "Unveiling the visible: lives and works of women artists in It was not until 1985 that printmaking was energized Pakistan." Professor Hashmi was co-founder of ‘Rohtas and a new phase initiated at the National College of 2’ in Lahore and founding member of the Women’s Arts, formerly the Mayo School. Naazish Ataullah, Action Forum in Pakistan. She retired from National Anwar Saeed returned after their post graduate studies College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan, as professor of Fine at the Slade and the Royal College of Art in London to Art in 2000. She is currently Dean of School of Visual take up teaching positions. They were helped by Arts at Beaconhouse National University in Lahore. printmakers Bartolomeu Dos Santos and Peter Daglish, who joined them, strengthening the pedagogy by conducting workshops and initiating research into local materials. Afshar Malik and Jamal Shah joined the growing number of printmakers who returned after their training also from the Slade. The special relationship between the two schools flourished as the group expanded with Sabina Gillani and Laila Rehman, both having benefited from the M.A programme at the Slade. All returned to Pakistan to share their expertise with students and gallery audiences. 3 Fatima Saeed Fatima Saeed gained a Bachelor of Arts and Enillodd Fatima Saeed radd Baglor yn y Celfyddydau specialised in Printmaking at the National College of gan arbenigo mewn Printio yn y Coleg Celf Arts in Lahore. She also studied Miniature Painting, Cenedlaethol yn Lahore. Astudiodd hefyd Baentio Photography and Ceramics, which inform her teaching Mân-ddarluniau, Ffotograffeg a Cherameg, sy’n at the Fine Art Department at National College of Arts cyfoethogi ei gwaith dysgu yn Adran Celfyddyd Gain y and also the Oriental College of Arts in Lahore. Fatima Coleg Celf Cenedlaethol a hefyd y Coleg Celf Dwyreiniol Saeed has exhibited throughout Pakistan, in USA, yn Lahore. Mae Fatima Saeed wedi arddangos ei gwaith Finland, and Germany. ledled Pacistan, yn UDA, y Ffindir a’r Almaen. I was brought up in a family of artists. Their influence Fe’m magwyd mewn teulu o artistiaid. Roedd eu ranged from painting to designing space, from eastern dylanwad yn amrywio o baentio i ddylunio gofod, o classical music to clay pottery - the inclination came gerddoriaeth glasurol ddwyreiniol i grochenwaith clai - naturally to me. Now, as a professional practicing artist, daeth y tueddfryd yn naturiol i mi. Bellach fel arlunydd I feel blessed for the constant encouragement in those proffesiynol wrth ei gwaith, rwy’n ei theimlo’n fraint fy early years, which fueled my interests and resulted in mod i wedi derbyn anogaeth gyson yn ystod y my career development through Art