(IN) SURGE (NT)

by

Exhibition of Works by Canada-based artist

Tazeen Qayyum

The Show Curated by Zarmeene Shah

on Tuesday 21 April 2015 at 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm
the Exhibition will continue till 30 Apil 2015
Daily 11:00 am to 8:00 pm (excluding Sunday)

Canvas Art Gallery
D-40/1-A, Block 4,
Kehkashan, Clifton,
Karachi-Pakistan

With her new body of paintings and 3-dimensional works, Tanen Qayyum continues her investigation of the complex and shifting nature of political landscapes, particularly in the context of the fear of the ‘other’ following the war on terror and its direct ramifications on the lives of ordinary people. The metaphor of the cockroach entered Qayyum’s work in 2002, addressing issues of human rights violations and the value assigned to human life, and has since evolved and expanded, encompassing notions of the shifting roles between aggressor and victim, of perceived threats and real threats. The idea of fear is a central one, a psychological reality that when viewed in the context of a global socio-politics, war and mechanisms of power, has led to a seemingly unending cycle of actions and devastating consequences. With operations against insurgency in full force globally, the spread of militant networks and their impact on urban centers becomes a critical point of focus in these works. Where today, the threat that is real is masked within the multiplicity of threats that are perceived, Qayyum’s process of investigation traces its path through sustained ideas of the beautiful and the grotesque, the actual and the imagined, and of life in the face of a fear that threatens to overwhelm us all.