Sharjah: The first printmaking exhibition from the subcontinent to be held in the Middle East was launched at Sharjah Art Museum.
The exhibition, ‘Trajectories: 19th-21st Century Printmaking in India and Pakistan’ explores the influence of British colonialism and Western notions of beauty, chromolithographs and oleographs.
The exhibition will continue until November 20, The event is being held under the patronage of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah.
The exhibition was inaugurated by Shaikh Sultan Bin Ahmad Al Qasimi, Chairman of Sharjah Media Centre and Sharjah Media Corporation, who was given a guided tour by guest co-curators Dr Paula Sengupta, an artist, academic, art critic and curator based in Kolkata, India, and Camilla H. Chaudhry, a Dubai-based independent curator from Karachi, Pakistan. They were accompanied by Manal Ataya, Director General of Sharjah Museums Department, and Hesham Al Madhloum, Director of the Art Directorate at the Department of Culture and Information in Sharjah.
In total, 157 rare prints from 50 artists are on display at the show, which aims to introduce a UAE audience to the subcontinent’s major printmaking schools and movements, while also providing a bridge for discussion and dialogue regarding the multifaceted relationship between India and Pakistan.
The exhibition will take a journey back in time to the birth of Modernism, leading to the painful partition years, and follow artists’ responses to the shattering of their previous realities.
The vision behind ‘Trajectories’ is to introduce the UAE audience to the development of the printmaking medium, its significant schools, influences, and most ground-breaking works, while also providing a platform for a dialogue on the complex history of India and Pakistan.
Chaudhary is founding member of Art Chowk Gallery (Pakistan) and an independent curator who is currently based in Dubai.
On her experience of co-curating ‘Trajectories’, Dr Sengupta, said, “As a practitioner and historian of printmaking, to curate this exhibition for the Sharjah Art Museum is a dream project for me, because it has afforded the rare and unique opportunity of sharing a cultural space with Pakistan.
“The process of co-curating with my Pakistani counterpart, Camilla Hadi Chaudhary has led me on a journey of discovery as I’ve learned about printmaking practice in Pakistan post-partition years that had remained hidden behind borders despite the shared history of the subcontinent,” she added.
Co-curator Camilla Hadi Chaudhary, a founding member of Art Chowk Gallery (Pakistan) and an independent curator based in Dubai, said, “The exhibition spans a history that has seen much change and evolution in the region and that is reflected in the works on show. The most exciting part has been to study the confluence and divergence of art practices in the two countries that reflect shared history and distinct identities.”
