Written by: Nayha Jehangir Khan
Posted on: June 21, 2021 | 
Gaze, Resolve and Illumination by Isma Gul Hassan
Dominion Gallery at The Colony, Lahore is currently hosting an interdisciplinary group exhibition curated by Amna Suheyl featuring painting, photography, print, video, illustration and installation works. Suheyl is an artist and currently teaches at The Institute for Art and Culture in Lahore. The exhibition was first conceptualized three years ago by Suheyl and evolved into a collaborative project with Saad Sheikh the Founder of ‘The Colony’. While speaking to Suheyl about the exhibition, her own artistic practice explores familial bonds and environments, she captures the sincerity and intimacy of relationships in her artworks, observing and journaling these themes in the exhibition.
With over 70 artworks, the exhibition is spread across two main halls. “Towards Home” explores personal narratives and shared histories that explore the idea of the home as a physical and psychological space. The open call received over 160 artist submissions that were selected by a four-person jury that selected the final 30 artists. Those featured include, Ayesha Bashir, Arzoo Binte Azad, Danish Gahlot, Eesha Suhail, Ghazala Raees, Isma Gul Hasan, Kainat Jillani, Khadija Tul Kubra, Maham Nadeem, Mahnoor Malik, Maryam Umer, Mehmil Ishtiaq, Misha Sheikh, Moazzima Sadiq, Nain Tara, Nayentara, Qiraat Soomro, Rabeeha Adnan, Sahyr Sayed, Sameen Agha, Shahnur Shehzad, Shameen Arshad, Sundas Shaukat, Tooba Ashraf, Ume Laila, Waleed Zafar, Zahra Arif, and Zainab Zulfiqar.
Back to Normal Series by Moazzama Sadiq
As you enter the gallery, one of the first pieces you encounter is by Laila, titled ‘House #14’, and has a pop-up & cut-out technique that creates a three-dimensionality, depicting childhood memories and familial silhouettes, and relationships that are deliberately left open-ended for the viewer to interpret. The asymmetrical structure draws the viewer into what can be described as a photo album, dollhouse or an unfinished memory. The warmth of a close-knit family huddled under one rustic blanket is effortlessly painted in an intimate watercolor by Ashraf. Her piece “Pehli Jannat” recalls the comfort and celebration of familial bonds.
In contrast, the painting by Suhail casts an ominous mood, replacing people with intricately drawn lamps and a blanket with suggestive points of tension. Suhail has created an interior where the viewer is highly aware of the suspense and ambiguity. The two artists approach the same interior space of a home with completely different perspectives and visual language.
Memorial by Eesha Suhail
The muted greys and ochre hues of Azad’s series depict otherworldly scenes made with visual collage. The intensity of emotions runs high in these works, as they have a roaring sea chasing a paper boat and a floating facade of a house. The artist mentions that her work is about coping with the absence of her father, who went on frequent missions as a marine engineer.
Untitled by Arzoo Azad
Similarly, Adnan assembles a collection of natural and abstract elements with the protagonist inside an unearthly scape. The artist immerses herself in the subconscious coping with her environment through creating psychological space as a place of serenity. The illustrative quality of the works have sharp line work, accompanied by strange forms framing the figure. This may be a self portrait, as it feels like the artist invites the viewer into a unique and intimate stream of consciousness.
Both Jillani and Kumar explore memories shaped during simple household activities that are symbolically provincial and rustic, where home is a community that thrives on working together creating, cooking and enjoying festivities. Jillani uses the Ralli that is a patchwork quilting technique used historically in the home to create linen and clothing, which is beautiful and functional. The playful drawings by Kumar have heritage borders, framing his series titled “CRIMCHE”, which depict scenes of communal living design around the simple pleasures of eating together, farming and being outdoors with nature.
Kainat Jillani's Ralli Work
Waleed Zafar’s digital prints feel like pages from a family album. He uses precisely chosen painterly elements, colour swatches and photography effects that blur the line between film & digital photography, hand-painted & digital manipulation. In comparison, Shameen Arshad deliberately chooses photography as her medium, highlighting her own silhouette but replacing her body with a solid plane of colour.
The painting “Arrival of night time”, by Nayentara uses elements of paper collage to depict an interior lounge setting with a singular figure resting on a sofa. In her video piece titled “3 Cups Of Tea”, her characters come to life in a short minimalist animation with powerful social commentary. It features a strained relationships between two powerful matriarchs in conflict within the boundaries of the home, paired with dark humour. Aisha Bashir uses a kind of zine format to express an internal monologue documenting the every day lives of her characters. Both artists are using a paper format with hand-drawn animation that is unique to their own artistic practice.
Arrival of Night Time by Nayentara
Suheyl has purposefully placed artworks that depict the exterior environment of the home in the main hall of The Colony. As the viewer walks past the large paintings that depict images of childhood, neighbourhoods, facades of houses, the environment transitions to an interior space with the large scale installation work “Tactile Memories,” by Raees. It has objects from her own personal life, thus creating her own home within the space. The paintings of Tara have childlike chalk drawing motifs and dreamy doodles that transport the viewer back to their own childhood days.
Tactile Memories by Ghazala Raees
The coming of age transition is immediately felt as we step into the adjacent hall, for the monochrome photography pieces by Sadiq confront the mortality of parents, accepting responsibility as the adult in the home. Hassan has used folklore visuals that create a story about a female protagonist in another fantasy realm, using illustrative landscapes. The whimsical miniature astronaut in Malik’s shadowbox is entering a single hiking boot through the door of a spaceship. This playful experimentation with visuals, objects and the figure creates powerful analogies, interesting narratives and metaphors of being on a journey.
Refuge by Mahnoor Malik
The exhibition has a variety of disciplines and mediums under one roof by young aspiring and emerging artists from all over the country. The exhibition continues till 30 June 2021, and the gallery is open to the public.
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