Atif Khan, Sophiya Khwaja and Zaira Ahmed’s artworks are currently on display in an exhibition titled ‘Three in a Crowd’ at ArtChowk-the Gallery.
ATIF KHAN: “My works are narratives inspired by the Eastern tradition of storytelling. The viewer can find images of diverse and contrasting environments juxtaposed in one space,” says Khan. Born in 1972, he graduated with distinction in Fine Arts from the prestigious National College of Arts (NCA) in Lahore in 1997, and was awarded the UNESCO-ASHBURG Bursary the next year, completing a residency at Darat-al-Funun in Amman, Jordan. He received the Commonwealth Arts & Crafts Award in 2007, and was also appointed artist in residence at the Swansea Print Workshop in Wales, London Print Studio in England and Glasgow Print Studio in Scotland. He has participated in art workshops in India, Bangladesh and Jordan, and exhibited throughout Pakistan, India, USA, EU, Australia, Dubai, Jordan, UK, Singapore and Hong Kong. Alongside his artistic practice, he is a faculty member at the NCA. Khan’s works currently on display at ArtChowk include ‘Protocol’, ‘Surgical Strikes’, and the ‘Landscape of the Heart’ series.
SOPHIYA KHWAJA: “I hear people say, ‘If this goes on much longer, people will revolt.’ There is no revolution in sight, so my question: how much longer is ‘much longer’ and who are the people that will revolt?’ says Khwaja. Born and raised in Islamabad, she attended the NCA where she majored in Printmaking. After graduation, she pursued a two-year Masters programme at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in the USA, which she attended on a Fulbright scholarship awarded in 2005. Her focus within printmaking has primarily been in intaglio, though she has experimented in various other print and non-print media, producing many drawing-based works along with paintings, lithographs and screen prints. She has exhibited widely since her return to Pakistan. Her work has been shown extensively in multiple solo and group exhibitions both locally and internationally, her first solo show being at the North Dakota Museum of Art, USA in 2008. Her work has been acquired as part of the permanent collection at the Aaron Siskend Center for works on paper at the RISD Museum, and the Granoff collection, RI, along with numerous other private collections. She resides in Islamabad and has been teaching at the Printmaking Department of the NCA-Rawalpindi since 2008. Khwaja’s works currently on display at ArtChowk include ‘Andhon Mein Kana Raja’, ‘Bills Ills’, ‘Clown’, ‘Egg Salad’, ‘Pakistaniat’, and ‘Where Happiness is Only For the Crazed’.
ZAIRA AHMED: “After any certain event in my life, I attempt to capture emotions that are personal yet universal, with no restrictions of region or language, yet are present in every human being,” says Ahmed. She was born in 1974. She studied Fine Arts at the NCA and majored in Printmaking. She has exhibited across Pakistan, UAE, Malaysia, UK and North America. She has also conducted printmaking workshops with various organisations. She has been teaching since 1999 and is currently a faculty member at the NCA-Rawalpindi. She has organised exhibitions of several artists throughout Pakistan and Dubai. In 2010, along with fellow artists and friends, she started a project titled ‘Educate One’ that is supporting education of many students, keeping in view the idea of ‘no child left behind’. Ahmed’s ‘Brick by Brick’ series is currently on display at ArtChowk.
The art exhibition of these three printmakers from Lahore and Islamabad would continue until January 21 at ArtChowk-the Gallery.
