THE LAY OF THE LAND

A WORK IN PROGRESS
CURATED BY
ANUSHKA RAJENDRAN
Adeela Suleman (Pakistan) | Amna Ilyas (Pakistan)
Charmi Gada Shah (India) | Danushka Marasinghe (Sri Lanka)
Imran Channa (Pakistan) | Kedar DK (India) | Niyeti Kannal (India)
Pala Pothupitiye (Sri Lanka) | Pradeep Chandrasiri (Sri Lanka)
Sarika Mehta (India) | Shailesh B R (India) | Sujith SN (India)
Thisath Thoradeniya (Sri Lanka) | Waseem Ahmed (Pakistan)

What if we were to perform an alternative cartographic exercise upon experiential dimensions of space and time, and ruptures within them? What if we were to orchestrate a letting go of ego-centric seats of power as determiners to accommodate a mobile fulcrum that roams through the margins and ventures into the cracks? What
if we were to execute an exercise that strays away from holistic pretensions to zoom in on microscopic, qualitative descriptions that reveal cross-eyed, short-sighted or

CURATORS NOTE

long-sighted, astigmatic, tactile perspectives that break out of vacant quantifications? A mapping of rituals and taboos, gestures and their decoding, text as meaning and
its vacuity, memory and its erasure, the archive and its fallacy, remembered anecdotes and televised accounts, identities and their discomfiture, religious motifs and their
contemporary inversions, cultural complexes and their annihilation through the autobiographical, history and its reiteration The Lay of the Land: A Work in Progress is
indicative of a desire to chronicle some of these constructs and their collapse.
From the colonial cartographers who dismissed indigenous, non-representational forms of spatial knowledge and the psychogeographies1 of Situationism, to postmodern schizophrenic2 experiments with cartography, the utilitarian and conceptual treatments of maps as ways of charting knowledge or acknowledging the limitations of
that knowledge have always been aesthetic projects. When built upon the notion of two-dimensionally communicating spatial information effectively, they often remain
empty caricatures that extract and canonize physical boundaries and territories as emblems of power and means to authenticate versions of disputed borderlines. In
their most obvious renditions, maps reveal themselves as flat testimonies to the flawed project of objectivity. And what if we zoomed in on these rubrics of territorial
form? We encounter blank spaces peppered with fragments of geographic descriptors empty aesthetic transcriptions, often antiquated iconographic shorthands for
geographic markers, and quantified topographies. The irony remains that despite attempts at harmonious assimilation of parts into a whole, maps are instrumental only
when inferred in parts. In the context of South Asia, with overlapping histories of colonialism, ethnic divisions, communal tensions, marginalization, border disputes, living
indigenous traditions whose needs and demands contest impositions of political power, language politics, and centuries of conquests and border fluidity, maps have been
imposed upon maps. This exhibition rejects the processes that seek to profile region based on geographic descriptors, except through their inversions, and definitive
narratives of political and cultural trauma3 that are generated by carrier agents such as the media, the state, law and others who have the agency to do so.
Lived experiences of spaces inscribed within maps present an entirely different vocabulary of social relations, unfamiliar landscapes, emotional realities, contradictory
testimonies, dialectical narratives, and memories and their particularities. The Lay of the Land, a phrase with origins in connoting the survey of land in its literal sense,
but has folded to signify the general state of affairs or the disposition of circumstances to be studied, allows for the imagination of artists as surveyors capturing vivid,
graphic, glimpses from their own vantage points. And these non-maps do not incorporate canonical aspirations. Nor can they ever be absolute or complete. They are
self-admittedly, a work in progress towards charting lived experiences.
1
2

Guy Debord, Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography

Fredric Jamesons use of the term schizophrenia from Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism and not from the Deluzean reading of the anti-oedipal. Subverting political maps has been a preoccupation for many

conceptual artists since the 1960s including Claes Oldenberg, Jasper Johns and Nancy Holt.
3

Jeffrey Alexander, in his book Trauma: A Social Theory, uses Benedict Andersons argument in Imagined Communities that nations are imagined on the basis of traumatic events that have affected a collective thereby defining

themselves and other-ing the rest, to emphasize the fundamental argument in his social theory of trauma that trauma needs to be represented. The construction of the traumatic event then becomes instrumental in the way it is
processed by the community, and the construction of these narratives in public memory often falls within the hands of institutions such as the state, law, media and also to an extent the aesthetic.

- ANUSHKA RAJENDRAN

IMRAN CHANNA

Memories Series
Graphite and Eraser on Paper
27 X 41
2015

Memories Series
Graphite and Eraser on Paper
27 X 41
2015

Imran Channa tests the claims to authenticity made by the photographic image. In this series of works, he recreates found photographs in graphite and uses an eraser to peel off the images,
revealing the constructed nature of archives and reportage.

Eraser on Paper IV
Eraser on Paper
52 X 35
2015

Eraser on Paper V
Eraser on Paper
52 X 35
2015

AMNA ILYAS

Mapping
Etching on Perspex (Acrylic)
24 x 22
2015

1981 - 2015
Etching on Perspex (Acrylic)
12 x 8
2015

Untitled
Etching on White Perspex (Acrylic)
10 x 14
2014

Amna Ilyas contemplates text for its formal elements, and the visual and conceptual maps that emerge from it. And its construction as a process of
authenticating knowledge, as part of acts of power that create an illusion of truth, which is by nature ephemeral and transitory. It describes how our
culture is more accustomed to the tone of text rather than its actual formulation. Her works throw light on the auratic effect that texts can hold, and
the various meanings they acquire through the ages; pages from Nasreen Mohamedis diary, whose contents she feels have the same relevance as it
did in her time, inspired 1981- 2015.

11

KEDAR DHONDU

The artist captures the little known, unique history of the Konkani speaking community of Siddhis of African origin, brought to Goa as slaves from
the 15th century onwards when it was still under the Portuguese rule. They
are now settled in the district of Yellapur in northern Karnataka, where they
eventually sought refuge.

Dark Dawn
Tea Wash and Gouache on Paper
22 x 60
2015
Dark Dawn
Gouache on Paper
7.5 x 10 (Set of 12)
2015

13

SARIKA MEHTA

Passing Through...
Watercolor on Paper
9 x 5
2015

Passing Through...
Watercolor on Paper
9 x 5
2015

The artists interest in geography and its formal pedagogy precipitated in this series of works during her time spent by the sea
in Mumbai where she watched the birds. As they roam, border
territories and manmade boundaries matter to them just as much
as the woven strands of a fishnet, pliable to the slightest tug.

Passing Through...
Watercolor on Paper
9 x 5
2015

Passing Through...
Watercolor on Paper
9 x 5
2015

15

17

SUJITH SN
Stains of Stimuli are emotional maps of places that Sujith SN
has lived in, drawing from his experience of them, and the
impressions they left behind. The vast expanses of sky and
landscape in this series of works evoke various states of mind
and provide the context for the artist to consider the architectural impact upon lived spaces and the power relations
that it signifies. These are visions that come to be triggered
by symbolic representations of terrains. To what extent are
these associations learned and not organic? For the artist,
identity, as it is linked to places is shaped by abstract memories and not easily defined representations of territories. The
more one tries to be specific, tangibility becomes even more
elusive.

Stains of Stimuli
Watercolor on Paper
10 x 12 (each)
2015

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Stains of Stimuli
Watercolor on Paper
45 x 69
2015

21

WASEEM AHMED

In this series, Waseem Ahmed continues his delicate use of the miniature style, to explore politically
charged issues and identity. The works remain critical
of the current, often media generated, caricaturing of
the Islamic identity as threatening.
Karachi
Pigment Color, Silver Leaf on Archival Wasli
13 x 10
2015

Untitled
Interfacing Pigment Color, Silver Leaf on Archival Wasli
10 x 14
2015

23

Untitled
Pigment Color, Perforation, Silver Leaf on Archival Wasli
21 x 14
2015

Untitled
Pigment Color, Silver Leaf on Archival Wasli
7 x 11
2015

25

ADEELA SULEMAN

Blood Will Have Blood

Found Porcelain Plates with Enamel Paint
8 X 8 inches
2015

In this series, Adeela Suleman continues her work with found objects. On porcelain plates,
she maps contemporary contexts by charting a pictorial history of heinous acts from the
past, to indicate that history reiterates itself. This series is part of an ongoing mapping of
our times that she has been involved with over the last year.

And Then it will Flow

Found Porcelain Plates with Enamel Paint
6.3 x 6.3 inches
2015

Blood Will Have Blood

Found Porcelain Plates with Enamel Paint
8 X 8 inches
2015

27

PALA POTHUPITIYE

Jaffna Map Fishhook Anchors

Linocut Hand Print on Watercolor paper, Archival Ink
10 x 16
2015

Northern Tip of Sri Lanka

Linocut Hand Print on Watercolor Paper, Archival Ink
10 x 16
2015

The artist uses motifs that recur in his works such as the shirt, fishhooks, and decorative
elements from traditional arts to make these imagined maps come alive with Sri Lankas
history of colonization and ethnic tensions, focusing on the cities of Jaffna and Colombo.

The Other of Jaffna - City of Colombo

Linocut Hand Print on Watercolor Paper, Archival Ink
16 x 10
2015

29

SHAILESH BR

DANUSHKA MARASINGHE

Shailesh BRs sculptures and installations are an extension of his drawings through which he explores the
various possibilities of a concept. The
work Nail Went into Cross is one such
extraction from a larger process. His
works ask questions such as why
an object exists, how it came to be,
its dispositional meaning and what it
will become during its life and after
its death. In this work he traces the
journey of the nail within the larger
political connotations of the crucifixion. He imagines a dissection of the
cross to which Jesus was nailed to reveal the simple yet invisible process
of hammering a nail, and the now invisible hand that hammered the nail.

Trace
Full HD video, 5 min Looped, Color, Sound
2015

The artist picks up on memory traces left by his personal experience of

political events specific to his context in time and space. Though these
are embedded in his past, the present/absent traces dont wipe away. He
picks up on them to build the psychological landscape in this video that
questions issues such as power structures and surveillance from which
there is often no escape.

Nail Went in to Cross

Wood, Nail and M-Seal
36 x 8 x 6
2015

31

PRADEEP CHANDRASIRI

Translation of Sinhalese text: Dress among dresses: From the

late 1800s, the long sleeved, soft shirt from the shoulders to
the knees, and two-yards cloth is considered the national dress
of Sri Lanka. Normally chosen in a light color, the length and
the neck of this dress has changed with time and according to
the various sections of the society. On suitable occasions, the
wearing of the national dress by a Sri Lankan male is of great
respect to his country.
The artist juxtaposes a contemporary advertisement he found
in newspapers on the 4th of February, the Independence Day
of Sri Lanka with found, documentary images of the ethnic
conflicts that resulted in a civil war that lasted almost three
decades.
Addressing the Nation I
Acrylic, Print on Acid Free Paper
16 x 11
2015

Addressing the Nation II

Acrylic, Print on Acid Free Paper
16 x 11
2015

33

Addressing the Nation NCP I

Acrylic, Print on Acid Free Paper
14 x 11
2015

Addressing the Nation NCP II

Acrylic, Print on Acid Free Paper
14 x 11
2015

35

NIYETI CHADHA KANNAL

Untitled
Mixed Media on Paper
23 x 25
2015

Untitled
Rapidograph, Collage on Paper
35 x 25
2015

37

The artist is preoccupied by the transient topographies of urban spaces ever climbing
skylines, buildings under construction and the
whir that entwines them. Her abstract works
enmesh these various geographies, often hyperbolically, giving primacy to the experience
of these landscapes and necessarily escape
fidelity to actual architectural spaces.

Untitled
Collage on Paper
8 x 6 each
2015

39

CHARMI GADA SHAH

Model 1
Balsa Wood, Enamel, Adhesive
12 x 16 x 4
2015

Charmi Gada Shah maps from memory the architectural spaces of the houses that she has
lived in over the years that were testimonies to her personal experiences and subjective
reflections. These painstakingly recreated miniature renditions attempt to transmute the
recent past and personal into experiences of form and space.

Model 2
Balsa Wood, Enamel, Adhesive
4 x 6
2015

41

Model 4
Balsa Wood, Plaster, Paint
2015

43

THISATH THOREDENIYA

A Search for a New Beginning

Watercolor on Acid Free Archival Paper
8 x 8 inches
2015

Juggler
Watercolor on Acid Free Archival Paper
8 x 8 inches
2015

The Sandalwood Tree

Watercolor on Acid Free Archival Paper
8 x 8 inches
2015

Thisath Thoradeniya picks up the figure of the joker, who occupies the margins of society and has
no ostensible relevance except as an entertainer. Yet his comical acts mirror his context, and he
carries its weight while treating it with lightness. The joker becomes an appropriate channel for
the artist to articulate the anxieties stemming from his own personal experiences.

45

Between the Clouds and the Earth I

Watercolor on Acid Free Archival Paper
8 x 8 inches
2015

Between the Clouds and the Earth III

Watercolor on Acid Free Archival Paper
8 x 8 inches
2015

Between the Clouds and the Earth IV

Watercolor on Acid Free Archival Paper
8 x 8 inches
2015

Between the Clouds and the Earth II

Watercolor on Acid Free Archival Paper
8 x 8 inches
2015

47

A New Beginning
Watercolor on Acid Free Archival Paper
8 x 8 inches
2015

Between the Clouds and the Earth V

Watercolor on Acid Free Archival Paper
16 x 20 inches
2015

49

Creeping Out I
Watercolor on Acid Free Archival Paper
16 x 20 inches
2015

Creeping Out II
Watercolor on Acid Free Archival Paper
16 x 20 inches
2015

51

53

artist bios + statements

Adeela Suleman (Pakistan)

Amna Ilyas (Pakistan)

Charmi Gada Shah (India)

Danushka Marasinghe (Sri Lanka)

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Adeela

Suleman (1970) lives and works in
Karachi, and is currently the Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the
Fine Art Department at the Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture. She
is also the coordinator of Vasl Artists
Collective, Karachi. Suleman has done
her BFA in Sculpture 1999, Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture,
Karachi, Pakistan, and has an MA in
International Relations 1995, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan.

Born in Pakistan, Ilyas (1980) has done

her Bachelors in Sculpture at the National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore,
Pakistan and has taught at the NCA
as a lecturer on sculpture. She has
also served as a research assistant at
the NCA.

Born and raised in Mumbai, (1980),

Charmi Gada Shah completed her
Bachelors degree in Fine Arts from
the L.S. Raheja School of Art, Mumbai, and her Post-Graduate degree
from Chelsea College of Art, London. In 2009 she received the Art India Promising Artist Award and The
FICA Emerging Artist Award in 2011
alongside Sujith SN.

Danushka Marasinghe (1985) was

born and raised in Negombo, Sri
Lanka. He studied at the Digital Film
Academy, Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, Colombo and Faculty of Visual
Arts, The University of Visual and Performing Arts Colombo (2007) and
was part of the Art need space Public art workshop at German Culture
Center, Colombo in 2007. Marasinghe
is primarily a video-artist interested
in exploring modern society, through
socio-political issues, surveillance and
the modern manifestations of privacy,
or lack thereof.

My works vaunt attention to detail.

Working with multiple mediums like
painting, drawing, sculpture and interactive art, I experiment with colour
while highlighting their contrast
against plain white backgrounds.
Some of my well-known works are inspired by the Badshahnama series in
Mughal Miniatures. In my recent works
I emphasize the way history has been
wistfully fabricated by those who
were given the responsibility to preserve its authenticity. My large graphite drawings are a deliberate act of
making and erasing records from history, until it merges into single plan by
compressing time and motion.

Imran Channa (Pakistan)

Kedar DK (India)

Born in Shikarpur, Sindh, Pakistan,

Imran Channa (1981) lives and works
in Lahore, Pakistan. He studied for
his MA (Hons.) 2008 at the Visual
Arts, National College of Arts, in Lahore and is currently a finalist for the
Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2010, Hong
Kong. He teaches at the National College of Arts, Lahore.

Based out of Goa, the Hyderabadborn Kedar DK studied for his Masters degree in Fine Arts (Painting), at
the Sarojini Naidu School of Performing Arts, Fine Arts and Communication, Hyderabad Central University,
Gachibowli, Hyderabad (2008), and
his Bachelor in Fine Art (Painting),
Goa College of Art, Goa University,
Panaji, 2005. He is the recipient of the

This work that I have been doing since

last year, maps the times we live in by
creating a pictorial history. It captures
something heinous form the past and
reproduces it in the present and it appears as relevant as it was in the past.
The work strives to map the times and
events we live in. I work with everyday
objects, which through its multiplication and assembly, becomes the delegate of a new, stimulating inner vision.

The series of works is made up of

the very idea of using words on paper or constructed in the form of paper. Yet these works do not fall under
the category of normal paper-bound
volumes. Instead the format of this
product is a formal quest that has led
to conceptual excursions. The material, which is used is opaque plastic
(or white Acrylic) which seemed to
substitute the whiteness of the paper. The empty space inside an open
book cannot communicate beyond
the verbal noise that is no more than
an exercise in rhetoric. It describes
how our culture is more accustomed
to the tone of a text rather than its
actual formulation.

I often work with built spaces that are

invariably either abandoned, neglected or in a state of disuse; through the
process of revisiting them, and building or innovating on their outlines. I
draw attention back to these spaces and their disjuncture in time and
space. Employing different media, including drawing, sculpture, photography, film and architecture, she formulates a network of correlations that
play on notions of memory, destruction and conservation. The works, as
installations, become in-situ repositories of documentation, fiction and
mimesis.

55

KAVA4, Kashi Award for Visual Art,

Kashi Art Gallery, Kerala, 2008 and
the State Art Awards, Goa (200304)
In the history of Goa, the Portuguese
treated the black image with oppression, alienation, emasculation
and abuse, and most of the Christian
families used to have slaves as workers in their rich houses. Even today we
can find dark-skinned workers, with
African resemblance working as domestic help in most Christian homes.
During Portuguese rule, the Africans
were brought to Goa by the Portuguese to do menial work. At a certain
stage, the slaves left Goa and settled
in the neighboring villages of Goa and
Karnataka out of sheer fear of torture
and inquisition from the Portuguese.
They were Siddhis, a black African
community that still speaks Goas
Konkani language. My work brings
out these issues of sadism; brutality,
sexual perversion, innocence, stoicism
and the metaphysics of hope enacted
and embodied by characters across
Goa.

Pala Pothupitiye (Sri Lanka)

Born in 1972, Deniyaha, Sri Lanka, Pala
Pothupitiye lives and works in Korathota, Colombo, Sri Lanka. He studied for his BA at University of Kelaniya, Institute of Aesthetic Studies, and
also has a BFA in Sculpture, Colombo,
Sri Lanka (2002), and has training in
traditional Pakistan sewing methods
and techniques, with craftsmen from
Lahore, Pakistan alongside studies in
metalwork and jewelry. A thoughtful
and subtly political artist, Pothupitiya
has established himself as a vital exponent of 90s trend Sri Lankan art.
He confronts the compelling political
issues raised by the war in Sri Lanka
and explores questions like caste, distinction between art and craft, tradition and modernity in his works. Coming from a background of traditional
craft artists and ritual specialists, he
incorporates and reinterprets certain
material and philosophical contents
of traditional art in his work.
These three maps bring focus to the
northern area of Sri Lanka and its capital Colombo. The maps are personified in a very unusual manner, dress-

ing them with a shirt, symbolizing the

power politics connected mainly with
colonization and Euro-Western ideas.
Many other motifs, symbols and traditional decorative elements in the
map, talk about the geo-political and
ethnic tensions in these two key cities
of Sri Lanka; Colombo and Jaffna.
Pradeep Chandrasiri (Sri Lanka)
Born in 1968 in Kandy and working and living in Colombo, Sri Lanka,
Pradeep Chandrasiri is one of the
more acclaimed artists belonging to
the first generation of younger artists to have come into prominence
by the 90s trend in the later years
of the 1990s. Chandrasiri studied his
BFA (Painting and Sculpture) at Institute of Aesthetic Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka in 1997 and
has a Diploma (Archeology) from the
Postgraduate Institute of Archeology, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka,
2003. The main focus of Chandrasiris
work has always been violence, more
specifically; political violence, made
ever more poignant by the end of the
civil war.

Our independence day is on the 4th

of February. In that month, in the last
two years, Emerald Company published an advertisement in Sinhala, in
Sinhalese newspapers for the Dress
among dresses: A long sleeved soft
t-shirt that is considered the national
dress of Sri Lanka. In contrast to the
text and image of the t-shirt I have
placed images with naked bodies or
people. The selected images date
back to ethnic-political violence era
of Sri Lanka, which stretched over
nearly three decades. The advert with
the dress is juxtaposed or superimposed with the people and bodies
without dresses are sandwiched into
an artwork with my paint strokes. My
brushstrokes create a visual sense of
topography. An emotional topography, if you will. I hope this is a different kind of a visual-art-cartography.
My earlier works already have a certain sense or elements of maps.
Sarika Mehta (India)
Born in Ahmedabad, Sarika Mehta
(1980) completed her Diploma from
C.N. College of Fine arts, Ahmedabad

in painting in 2000, and then worked

in a studio space at Kanoria Centre
for Arts. In 2004, she did her Post-Diploma in printmaking from M.S. University, Baroda and started working
at Priyasri Art studio while living in
Baroda. Mehta consequently participated in an artist residency program
in printmaking at Jean-Yves Noblet
Contemporary Prints Studio, New
York.
My works are gentle aesthetic explorations of emotions and states
of being. This series of small format,
water-colours focuses on migrations,
borders and the porous nature of
these borders. Birds are a recurring
motif in these works, since nature is
unaware of these geopolitical boundaries, which are created by mankind.
We often see birds migrating and for
them sitting on the fence that may
divide two countries, has no ramifications at all. I, like a fakir, want to be
lost in the beauty of these emotions,
to float away while seeking to remove
all hindrances that separate us from
nature.

57

Shailesh B R (India)
Having studied in two completely diverse artistic pedagogies viz. CAVA,
Mysuru and The Faculty of Fine Arts,
M.S. University of Baroda his artistic practice derives generously from
both. Shailesh BR works towards the
creation of a machine or the mechanical.
My oeuvre is almost a cabinet of curiosities, my studio like a workstation
and laboratory. My formative education and having grown up in a village
where electricity is a distant luxury,
influence my work.
Sujith SN (India)
Sujith SN (1908) was born in Baroda
but grew up in various cities in South
India during a period of rapid urbanization. His practice is informed greatly by these spatial transformations.
He received his BFA from College of
Fine Arts, Trichur, and MFA from the
Sarojini Naidu School of Fine Arts,
Performing Arts and Communication
in the University of Hyderabad.

I create artworks that map how spatial

rhythms and territorial boundaries of
modern urban landscapes inevitably
lead to violence. My work addresses
the relationship between politics and
architecture and its effect on modern
societies, and specifically how modern architecture has come to shape
the political, social, and cultural behaviors of its inhabitants. Urban panoramas and their haphazard growth
and deterioration are the references
that drive the impulses of my works
that convey desolate, reclusive and
volatile cityscapes.
Thisath Thoradeniya (Sri Lanka)
Born in Colombo Thisath Thoradeniya
is a self-taught artist coming from the
historical city of Kandy. He received
his initial training at the Vibhavi Academy of Fine Art. He is currently based
in Colombo and works as a full time
professional artist. His art practice of
over 6 years includes painting, sculpture, installation, and object art. He has
participated in a number of international art residencies and workshops
in Bangladesh and Mauritius, and his

work was exhibited at the Asian Art

Biennale 2008 in Dhaka, Bangladesh,
and received the Honorable Mention
Award.
The joker is a recurring persona that I
often work with. Commonly known as
a comical character the jokers main
purpose is to bring joy to the viewer
with his playful acts, jokes and antics.
On the other hand like a wastepipe
that transfers dirt or the venomous
serum of a snake, his own surroundings in life receive him like a nonstopping destructive cycle, leaving
him unstable only to see it amass in a
vociferous outcry, which is yet a whisper. The joker, a character never taken
serious by the spectator and society,
will have to find his own way out, even
while commenting on society.

Paintings) in 2000.
Since 1993, the artist has been extensively exhibiting his works in international museums and galleries in
Australia, Pakistan, India, Japan, UK,
Switzerland, Greece, France, Nepal
and Turkey.
The Mullah is one of my recurrent characters. They are delicately painted like
saints or princes and their expression
is filled with inner peace. Gardens
are another recurrent subject matter
symbolizing visions of paradise and
they are often embellished with fine
calligraphy. Also women wearing the
Burka frequently appear in my work
hinting terrorism and fear. My final
aim is to represent the contradiction
which lies between our life of desires
and the transiency of life.

Waseem Ahmed (Pakistan)

Waseem Ahmed (1976) was born
in Hyderabad, and he now lives and
works in Lahore, Pakistan. Ahmed attended the National College of Arts
in Lahore where he attained a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts (Miniature

59

about latitude 28
Identifying with its geographical locale in one of the prime art hubs of New Delhi the village of Lado Sarai, the gallery is called
Latitude 28. As the name suggests, the latitude of New Delhi situates it aptly while giving it a global frame of reference. From the
metropolis of New Delhi, Latitude 28 over the years has become synonymous with cutting edge art coming out of the country, seeking out fresh perspectives and innovative thinking in its attempt to stimulate commercial interest in new waves of art-making.
The establishment aims to cultivate a space where collectors and art enthusiasts can interact with emerging artists and their practices. Its strategy allows the space to act as a horizontal environment where younger artists are able to contextualise and reference
their work with the masters of Indian art, even as the ethos of the gallery encourages them to experiment with medium, material
and institutional critique.
The gallery shows veteran artists like Anupam Sud and Baiju Parthan alongside younger, upcoming artists like Prajjwal Choudhury,
Kartik Sood, Anindita Dutta, Dilip Chobisa, Deepjyoti Kalita and Shweta Bhattad. The space maintains an outlook that accommodates South Asian art practices and has neo-miniaturist Pakistani artists like Muhammad Zeeshan and Mohammad Ali Talpur in its
fold. An emphasis on critical thinking and discursive engagement prompts the gallery to accommodate curatorial projects that
weave artworks together to demonstrate the concerns of the curators, and consciously tries to initiate renewed readings of artworks
in various contexts. The most recent example was the exhibition Sacred/Scared curated by cultural theorist and critic Nancy Adajania that interrogated various connotations of the idea of the sacred. Shows that deconstruct established modes of looking at works,
presenting them with renewed relevance and reassess outmoded norms of the white cube, are part of the curatorial agenda.
Latitude 28 recognizes the shift from survey exhibitions and museum displays to international art fairs and biennales, as sites where
dialogues on the contemporary take place. The gallery attempts to support contemporary Indian art not only through exhibitions,
but also by supporting residencies and organizing outreach programs, seminars and talks. Its recent endeavor is a bi-annual residency in collaboration with 1Shanthi road, Bangalore supporting various out-of-the-box initiatives and artists and writers pursuing
experimental work. It also recently supported an outreach initiative, TAKE on Writing Critic Community: Contemporary Art Writing
in India, an initiative by its sister concern, the quarterly art magazine, TAKE on art.
Through these initiatives and many more projects in the horizon, Latitude 28 is still growing as a contemporary art venture, continuing its investment in fresh approaches to contemporary art. Latitude 28s vision is shaped by its Founder/Director, Bhavna Kakar,
who has over a decades experience as a curator, writer, and art consultant.
Latitude 28 supports its sister concern, TAKE on art (www.takeonartmagazine.com) Indias leading contemporary art magazine.
Bhavna Kakar is also the Editor and Publisher of TAKE on art.

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latitude28@gmail.com
CATALOG @ Latitude 28, 2015
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latitude28@gmail.com, www.latitude28.com