Written by: Nayha Jehangir Khan
Posted on: February 18, 2022 | 
| 中文
Night Photo_Sindhi Scripture 1
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s solo presentation can be described as a deeply immersive response to a shared environment, history and experience that is rooted in the familial and communal. A geological and anthropological sense of cartography and map lettering are anchored into the series of works. The artist is reclaiming a landscape that stretches across 10 KM of Sindh using the mighty Indus River as its central anchor. His creative process is multidisciplinary using analogue photography, printmaking, drawing, and stitching, which provide the foundation for his investigative and epistemological interests into his own ancestry.
The five-part series of thread and mirror work showcases Sindh through the ages as the home to the sprawling Indus River, beginning in 2,500 BC to present day. His witnessing of its’ evolution is gently stitched into these embroidered tapestries. The viewer can visually retrace the undeniably drastic changes of the river, revealing the nature of time. We relive centuries of change within minutes of glancing through each piece.
Sindhu Mata and Ghariyal from Sadhu Bela
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto uses the experience of travelling as a medium of collecting, journaling, documenting and observing the constructs of visual history drafted as cities, landmarks and architecture. His explorative journey of Sindh can be seen in “Jhule Lal Bera Paar”, where he attaches journaling of multilingual notes, deep reflections and an eyewitness’s perspective in the form of painterly photographs. This showcasing is practiced for each site on his map, creating complex visualizations of the regional history, folklore and its enriching diversity of cultures.
Having lived away from Pakistan and returning home from time to time, have fueled the artist’s intention to revisit places with curiosity and wonder. Curating a caravan route through a densely populated and industrialized stretch, the artist seeks a pluralistic and indigenous domain that provides an introspective journey into the self. The act of assembling a collection of discoveries focusing on this particular region, has a transformative experience for the viewer as we are invited to create new associations.
Saint
The desire to understand the intersection of ancient and modern syntax can be seen in the pieces “Harut and Marut”, “Saint”, “Embrace” and “Call the Angles by their names”, as these fossilized images are deliberately indiscernible. Their painterly rendering is colored by the Cyanotype technique that glows with Prussian Blue, created through film processed with exposure to light.
The miniature scale of the work draws in the viewer to closely examine the photo transfers and subtle imagery. “Rohri Sharif” is a blend of ephemeral elements of drawing and photography placed in front of a color field of blue with a motif resembling a compass stitched in the corner. These overlapping and interconnected motifs discord the linearity of time. Giving meaning to symbolic iconography of the ancient civilization, by pairing them with the patterns and architecture of the present day.
Hanuman
The viewer now carries experiences left by the artist into a series of nightscapes depicting quiet streets that are dimly lit. The sprawling shops that can be seen across this highly developed stretch of infrastructure exist engulfed in shadow. These dark spaces come alive with drawings in white acrylic paint of Hanuman, Sindhu Mata, Jhulelal and Sindhi Scripture taken from Gita. The artist takes an interventionist approach, using painterly graffiti to activate the shadows around these road side shops. The night photography brings his travels full circle, as it creates a parallel introspective journey that is slower and meditative.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto uses multiple languages, regional boundaries and diverse beliefs to showcase the interconnectedness that mends the fragmented and vulnerable boundaries in the creation of identity. His works are designed to allow the viewer to discover, relive and redefine the topographical mapping of Sindh. The larger-than-life wall graffiti in Satrang Gallery commands the attention of the viewer, a constant reminder that there is life populating each bold line and city name chalked down by the artist.
A guest looking at the artworks
In his most colorful piece, “Sindhu Mata with Makar Vahana”, we encounter a deity gilded in gold sequins, holding a beautiful flower with gold bracelets embellishing the wrists. This being is riding a regal creature with a fiery tail framing the composition. The lush green grass and water ground the figures, while the pair of opposing sun and moon hang dimly behind the scene. The recurring motif of the interlacing stitch can be seen on the clothes of the deity, used to represent the Mangrove Trees in the “Sindh” series, and growing into an arrow in the “Dolphin Rescue” series.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Junior speaking with the guests about his show 'Bera Paar'
Engaging with the image making techniques of an older era like archival processing, analog photography and Cyanotype, the artist travels forward and backward through time without hesitation, able to visually manifest a plethora of perspectives. His exploration on the complex spectrum of identity politics is rooted in his long-term research into the region. Each artwork holds the weight of his deconstructing historical, cultural, social and personal experiences.
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