Daily Times

Artist, educationist and activist Lala Rukh’s two very important works are now part of Metropolitan Museum , New York’s permanent collection.

Lala Rukh who was a prominent activist, founder member of Women’s Action, professor at NCA, founder of their MA program and an artist whose work is not only shown all over the world but is now also part of major museums like the Tate UK, Jameel Art Centre and Metropolitan Museum New York.

The work acquired by the MET include Mirror Image 1, 2, 3 and Rupak. Mirror Image (1,2,3) is a work on paper that responds to the violence that followed the demolition of the Babri Masjid on both sides of the border in the early 90’s. It involves the artist having blackened newspaper images of violence with graphite.

The second work, Rupak, is a video animation, which marks with a moving Qat, a visual notation of Rupak Taal, the soundtrack of the video. Lala Rukh worked tirelessly with a tabla nawaz, Sunny Justin and an animator, Atiya Rehman. A musical score, though common in Western Music does not exist in eastern music. This was Lala Rukh’s seminal work

The second work, Rupak, is a video animation, which marks with a moving Qat, a visual notation of Rupak Taal, the soundtrack of the video. Lala Rukh worked tirelessly with a tabla nawaz, Sunny Justin, and an animator , Atiya Rehman. A musical score , though common in Western Music does not exist in eastern music. This was Lala Rukh’s seminal work.

It will also be on display for one year at the Blavatnik Building, Tate Modern. It was shown in Athens in 2017 and at Kunsthaus Centre D’Art Pasquart, Switzerland (curated by MET NY’s curator Shanay Jhaveri) and Jameel Art Centre, Dubai (associated with the Jameel Prize at the V & A, London). Other editions of the work has been acquired by Samdani Art Foundation, Bangladesh and Jameel Art Centre.

Lala Rukh’s work has been traveling extensively in the last few years. It was shown with old masters like Picasso at Centre Pompidou, France in 2108, Shown along side other prominent artists like Etel Adnan and Louise Bourgeois at Punta Della Dogana, Venice in 2019, and in an in-depth survey of Feminist Art in 3 cities in England (Still I Rise) amongst other shows.

Lala Rukh was a prominent Pakistani women rights activist and artist who was known as the founder of the Women’s Action Forum.

Rukh’s artistic work ranged from political collages and posters, to meditative, austere drawings.

Her works were featured in 2017 at the contemporary art exhibition documenta 14.

Rukh died on July 7, 2017 at the age of 69.