I was always surprising while visiting an exhibition at Sanat Gallery, Karachi every time I was impressed by the artworks of the artist displaying his/her works at the gallery. The solo exhibitions as well as residencies at the gallery bring forth the talented creative artists whose artworks proved a delight for art enthusiasts. This time it was Suleman Aqeel Khilji's art pieces that caught attention of the art lovers.
Fascinated by the similarities between Inayat Khan's physique and those of the characters Suleman encountered living on the road inspired him to do the current series of painting titled "Inayat and Others". The solo exhibition at Sanat Gallery, Karachi reflected figures of common people we interact daily during our routine life. We came across these people on the roads when we were traveling by foot or in a vehicle but we just pass by without noticing their mysterious lives.
He was introduced to the 17th-century Mughal miniature painting of "The Dying Inayat Khan" while studying as a fourth-year undergraduate at National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore.
The paintings depicts expiring figures having weak body structure with skin stretched over bones creating a horrifying scene of an expired or expiring man on a death bed. As the title revealed we must know who was Inayat Khan, he was the Mughal Emperor Jahangir's drug addicted military officer.
According to a story of making of drawing told in emperor Jahangir's (1590-1627) biography; Inayat Khan approached emperor for permission to return home as he believed he was dying as a result of drug addiction; Jahangir so appalled by man's condition he ordered one of his artists to make a record of it prior to his departure and subsequent death (The Dying Inayat Khan, 1618, attributed to artist Balchand).
The bare chest figure of Inayat Khan lying on a couch or bed waiting death, his emaciated skeletal structure makes one thought how can someone lived in such a disintegrating condition. Suleman transform this character according to his observations setting the composition in contemporary situations giving his artworks a different aspect of life in such condition.
"I can observe subtle shifts and continuities between images sourced from different ages, watch figures and landscapes transform, and begin to connect emerging visual forms with thematic preoccupations or content," he explained.
European, Egyptian or Mughal the familiarity of works drawn from different eras of art history and from diverse cultural contexts made Suleman curious to investigate. "I recognized the same degree of emaciation in Hans Holbein the Younger's painting of "The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb", where again we see the combination of wasted form and paper-thin skin, stretched over protruding bones," Suleman stated.
Re-situating and revisiting the contents in the light of his own contemporary vision he considered his new series of work having its own context and mode of composition or execution.
"The final photographic portraits of the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, made in the late 1850s, encourage one to consider the next stage of Inayat Khan's journey. Like Rembrandt's late self-portraits, they embody a paradox: clearly studies of old age; they nevertheless also address the future. Their subjects seem to perceive something coming towards them apart from death."
He connected his painting with the modern world but found no difference in the physique and condition of people he encounter daily walking, sleeping and weeping around him on the streets and lanes of the busy cities. There story seemed alike the peculiar images of thin fragile people captioned "Laaghar" tell the tale more clearly.
Depicting people in such suffering conditions and body shape beyond imagination was distressing for the artist too. He documented some historical events such as a painting titled "Laaghar 2" (graphite, gouache and gold on archival paper) portrays the last Mughal, Bahadur Shah Zafar II, captive and awaiting trial prior to his eventual exile.
Skillfully concealed and revealed at the same time he managed to transform his opinions and the facts together in his paintings. He leaves the interpretation of his narrative in a painting to the viewers but the images of human form and the sense of fragility persists in all the art pieces. The vulnerability and tragic flaw in the lives of such people resulted in grief and trauma reflected in their bodies. Whether these characters survived or not but they will live in the works of Suleman forever.
[email protected]
Comments
Comments are closed.