In one of A C Grayling’s books, “The Meaning of Things,” he writes about a qualitative survey conducted once to find out what teenagers and youth think about museums and art galleries. Unsurprisingly, it was discovered that most of them dislike such places, being suited to the taste of old and wealthy people. Grayling further expands and emphatically quotes Henry Miller’s finding “Art teaches nothing, except the significance of life,” and suggests that most people never get to the second half of the sentence. Nevertheless, with the rise of the population over the last few decades, especially in the global south, i.e., approx. 60 per cent of the population of Pakistan is under 15-33 years, which poses a formidable challenge to any Government yet a sombre makeshift in the choices has also been observed. Young start-ups are sprouting from every walk of life, and creative practices exploring art/design venues and ventures aren’t an exception.
A viewer can effortlessly see the biomorphic studies in Rameesha Azeem’s recent solo exhibition, My World Afloat (Haam Gallery, Lahore, March 12 to 31). An eye-catching investigation of fragmented human body parts from the biological perspective and fundamental studies acquired from nature-emphasises the artist’s fascination with its conceptual ability to postulate an “inside facade” and “outside core” parallelly. The artist has indicated her “preference to work with the elementary forms and to aim to resolve organic, mechanical and technological expressions simultaneously using various mediums of her choice at a time.”
Today as we have new visuals constantly appearing on our unlimited scrolling social walls and yet have something essential to remind or act upon, it’s a challenge to completely ignore the existing timelines.by Salman Ali
The attention-grabbing feature piece is made out of rosewood tree “Sheesham” planks, seasoned for a few months before inlaying the raindrop shaped mother of pearls titled One Drop Every 30 Minutes. It appears an enormous scaled piece and certainly the simplest yet marvelling part elucidating multiplicity.
When one approaches the drawings hung against the dark grey walls in Estranged Perspectives 1 – 6, the new experience is envisaged through emotional mark-making, colourlessness, and gravitational movement in various textures, forms, and sizes. These particular drawings do appear as gouache paintings at first glance. A realisation informs one to begin observing the layers of minuscule graphite strokes in the manner of the aquatints-opaque, translucent, yet solid. The dynamism of Rameesha’s work doesn’t inevitably stem from its organic physical attributes but maybe from inner thoughts that originate from her interaction with plastic, rubber and all forms of polypropylene because of her family business of shoemaking. She uses rubber to take a cast on an ankle or a wrist and leave it for a few days-before she starts drawing the aged sculptural manifest as a reference point. The awareness of anti-commodification and anti-capitalism is very much instilled in her visual epilogues.
On the contrary, one can easily get deceived by the stack of colourful three-dimensional printed pieces at first, mainly jaw dentures of all shapes and sizes arranged in multiple tiers using the social stratification model commonly found in the social science textbooks and over the internet-titled Unity Pyramid. One then approaches hundreds of human cells also modelled using computer-aided design and additive manufacturing technology placed in the manner of supermarket isles using the glass shelves and the wooden boxes, which certainly provokes a thought of protective outerwear made for the most fragile organisms floating in our body. This form of work offers a manifesto that informs one to look into the commodification and the art of industrial societies. On one level of the newly built gallery, her large and medium-sized canvases offer another opportunity for exploration, the withdrawal of a silent protester-“individual units of private, historical, or implausible times about a certain person, place, event or concept.” Rameesha’s ultimate aim has been to explore problem-solving at the micro and macro levels. However, it is a big claim in itself-as any resolved solution in a particular timeframe sponsors more problems later-yet simultaneously strengthens the evolutionary processes.
There is more to learn for someone who looks at these paintings from the perspectives of dealbated historical accounts in which the juxta-positioning of right and wrong weren’t arranged in a balanced grid, so all get the equal rights to practice their beliefs. There is a clear distinction between the metamorphosis of feelings and obstructed subjectification as colours are butted on large surfaces using various brush strokes, constantly changing “Hues” in every blink of an eye.
Last but not least, the blood red-coloured animated cell floating in a very subtle manner on a giant projection wall on the top floor of the gallery is reminiscent of one of the lava lamps from the late 1960s invented by Edward Craven Walker, which symbolised all things countercultural and psychedelic-yet synopsising in your brain to loosen up a bit. This particular piece in the entire exhibition provides the innate opportunity to explore trans-disciplinarity where one can experience serenity, calmness nonetheless sceptical too. Today as we have new visuals constantly appearing on our unlimited scrolling social walls and yet have something essential to remind or act upon, it’s a challenge to completely ignore the existing timelines and think/do as a new timeline maker. One can decisively see the NFT inclusionary potential in this particular work of Rameesha’s.
The overall show has been a great experience. However, one can pose a docile critique straightforwardly-the few missing links could have been observed to create more propelling cohesion sequentially and curatorially. Rameesha’s viewpoint and the energy as a very young creative practitioner are commendable.
Through her innate skill of dealing with multiple mediums simultaneously, she tells a story of anyone’s life’s struggle on an everyday basis, including our conscious and subconscious tussles. It challenges the standard societal norms and values-wrapped and wafted into the other. Her concerns are deeply rooted in the evils of classism, which is existent in abundance in our social fabric-still finding the truth by mixing up with all classes of society to develop a pattern informed by a particular sensibility. Her creative practice enables one to form polymorphic thought processes and desire to find an avatar who competes and interacts simultaneously.
The writer is a social and political activist. He can be reached at salmanali088 @gmail.com, and tweets @Salmani_Salu.