Karachi Elegies
2011 – 2014
The series of watercolour-drawings, Karachi Elegies produced between 2011-14, represent what the artist calls a ‘disrupted geography’, where Karachi’s cityscape is constantly drawn and redrawn. Enclosed in a kind of amorphous cloud, the city is both real and mythical, opening the portal to an intense and surreal dynamic.
These works are set against the backdrop of social upheaval, mushrooming construction sites, labour force migrations and sanguineous turf wars which transform both the foreground and back- ground of public experience.
The Structures do not Hold, 2011
Graphite and watercolour on paper
36 x 51 cm
Bori-band Laash, 2011
Watercolour on paper
36 x 51 cm (14 x 20 in)
The City Soaks Up Like a Sponge, 2011
Watercolour on paper
36 x 51 cm
Map-under-construction, 2014
Graphite and watercolour on paper
46 x 61 cm
The Structures Do Not Hold, 2011
Graphite and watercolour on paper
36 x 51 cm
City Wrapped in a Web, 2011
Graphite and watercolour on paper
36 x 51 cm
Malignant Desire, 2011
Graphite and watercolour on paper
36 x 51 cm
Fath-e-Mubarak (Blessed Conquest),1843, 2011
Graphite and watercolour on paper
36 x 51 cm (14 x 20 in)
Water Tanks in Hazara Colony, 2011
Graphite and watercolour on paper
36 x 51 cm (14 x 20 in)
The City Soaks Up Like a Sponge and Expands, 2011
Watercolour on paper
36 x 51 cm
The Land Itself, 2014
Watercolour on paper
46 x 61 cm
Land-marked, 2014
Watercolour on paper
46 x 61 cm
Censored Sites/Sights, 2014
Watercolour on paper
30.5 x 40.6 cm
Fossilised Land, 2014
Graphite and watercolour on paper
46 x 61 cm