Where East meets West
By Quddus Mirza
In a region that has been a melting pot of races, religions, languages and customs throughout centuries, it seems irrelevant, if not outrightly absurd, to talk about purity of culture. According to American art critic, Thomas McEvilley, India was a postmodern country before the invention of postmodernism. Hence, in our region, diverse influences and impacts have shaped the way people lived and expressed their creative activities or responded to their practical needs.
In art too, a multiplicity of trends, styles, techniques and traditions contributed to construct an indigenous vocabulary which, like our language Urdu, is a combination of several entities in a unique formulation. Thus, what we now have as art from Pakistan is not a precise, monolithic or clearly-defined visual practice but a structure in which it is difficult to distinguish vernacular elements from outside influences.
If traced, some of these influences can be linked to early invaders of Indian subcontinent, beginning with the Aryans to other races and rulers who came from different parts of Central Asia, Middle East and Asia Minor till the Mughals. Although these were alien forces, with the passage of time their customs were adapted into the ‘local’ culture. For example, Greek art and Persian miniatures became part of our greater cultural heritage and were assimilated in Gandhara sculptures and Mughal miniature painting. This course continued in the colonial period too.
Today no one questions the existence or origin of majority of our cultural practices unless these are connected to West. For us the West, instead of a geographical boundary, is an idea that encompasses diverse, often contradictory, components. Due to our colonial past, the West has been equated with England, which expanded to other regions like Europe and North America. However certain countries, such as Latin American nations or Russia, though totally immersed in the European civilization, do not fall in our description of the West.
Thus we have a specific notion of the West, especially in the context of art and culture. Being a postcolonial society, we seek a relationship of love and hate with civilizations that represent our former masters. Several of our artists and cultural theorists stress the need to evolve an art form that is distinct from the West but, at the same time, want it to be recognised in the mainstream art which incidentally is located in the West. So while wanting our art to have an indigenous flavour and rooted in history, we are anxious for it to be received in world art centres and our artists to exhibit in major galleries and museums in the US and European capitals.
This may appear dichotomous but is actually a logical construct. Actually, we wish to conquer the West through our past, since we cannot compete with it in the present and certainly not in the future. To have an art form that represents our heritage and offers something unique to the art world is an understandable motive; it is this urge that popularised the movement of miniature painting in Pakistan which eventually became the most successful art export from here.
However, art does not always flow in a direction determined by its makers, users or analysts. Often it surprises all. Thus the movement of miniature painting in Pakistan, after surviving for a few years as a sign of identity, is slowly transforming into something unexpected. For instance, many artists who were trained as traditional miniature painters are exploring other forms, such as sculpture, installation and conceptual art. This probably is in response to the demand for contemporary art which is keen to concentrate on new arenas, having exhausted the usual sources. Hence in recent years, an attention to Chinese art, to be followed by Indian art, is witnessed in all the important art centres around the world.
But along with miniature painting, which is moving in the direction of contemporary art (connected to the Western aesthetics), a number of artists in our surroundings have freed themselves from the question of ethnic divide between the East and the West. For them, debates like these are a residue of the past, which portray the lingering habit of imagining a perfect East in comparison — and competition — with a pure West. One realises the world is not separated in such clear boundaries. Presently, several practices from the West, in the day-to-day expressions and food, have been absorbed in the East. Similarly, the current art in Pakistan, or for that matter from other countries, is fast losing its connection with a particular place. For example, a painting by Mohammad Ali Talpur or an installation by Hasnat Mehmood, could be from any part of the world. Their concerns may relate to this region, their language is transnational and contemporary. So is the case with many other artists in our midst who are producing work, without getting into this distinction between the East or the West.
Yet, for some, the question of an independent identity of Pakistani art remains pertinent. They force and tempt to revert to acquire local roots in art in order to have an individual identity as opposed to the West. Interestingly these sermons in favour of indigenous art are usually delivered in English — like the medium of this article!
Source: The News
” 
” 
” 
” 
” 
