Vadehra Art Gallery is pleased to present Aalmi, an exhibition of recent works by artist Faiza Butt, her first solo exhibition in India. ‘Aalmi’ in Urdu means universal, a concept to the artist, as it refers to a realm that is beyond borders, physically and conceptually.
The works included in this exhibition juxtapose different visual cultures from different time periods. In the series titled ‘My Love Plays in Heavenly Ways,’ ancient Chinese dragons are locked in combat with the artist’s young diasporic sons. The work addresses a personal mythology – a game, played by Butt’s sons, in which the young boys attack make-believe dragons slithering on their beds in the form of blankets. The imagery is reminiscent of precious blue Chinese porcelain. The border of the work has hairdryers and tennis shoes interwoven with more orthodox depictions of dragons, koi fish, and flowers. The mythic and the banal collide in an image that is both an expression of innocence and violence.
In another series titled ‘One,’ she looks at the objectification of women and the relationship between religion and sexuality in response to taboos and views towards the female body in Islamic cultures. A woman’s mouth seductively plays with a bejeweled pendent in the shape of the word Allah. Butt speaks to the consuming nature of religion and faith and to the challenging interplay between the worldly and the spiritual. The pendent presents two distinct affiliations— one of high class and one of religious devotion. For some these associations are at odds, while others see them going hand in hand. What is emphasized is the primacy of the word itself, rendered both precious and intimate through ornamentation of the pendant and by the lush lips that hold it.
The importance of words is further explored in Zevar Zanjeer, which depicts a poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz in the form of a large freestanding light box. On one side is the original poem in Urdu and on the other, an English translation. On the side bearing the original text, the words are assembled from bejeweled weapons and pieces of raw meat. On the reverse, the translation is inscribed in honey atop a background of colorful trash bags and debris. Language itself takes on an aesthetic quality. Faiz’s poem addresses his time in prison in beautiful, lush language. Butt illustrates Faiz’s luxuriant prose by expressing the power, beauty and the raw emotion it is capable of generating. But as the title suggests the words like the poet are in captivity. Butt’s elaborate drawings are created from found and scavenged journalistic photos yet her instinct is to decorate these images and beautify them, making them a source of enjoyment and gratification.
Butt’s paintings are laboriously crafted using a near obsessive technique of tiny dots – this style is reminiscent of the par dokht style in miniature painting – a rigorous process that involves the covering of the painted surface with individual dots. One can trace origins of this style in Butt’s work from the training she received in miniature painting at the NCA in Lahore. However these dots also replicate pixels structure of a photograph, on polyester translucent films. This is especially relevant given that the artist created these drawings from photographs in newspapers and magazines. The pieces are mounted on light boxes, activating the process of development and creating an ethereal iconic appeal. Although she is aware of the Post Impressionists and the Pointillists, her work comes from an entirely different origin, and whilst the Pointillists wanted to capture the effect of light Butt is interested in capturing the beauty and contradictions of the Islamic tradition.
Although a trained Slade artist and living in London, Butt’s Pakistani roots are clearly evident in her work as she brings to our attention various social, gender and political issues faced by a young Pakistani.
