Lahore based art exhibit explores new ideas through old printmaking process

In our bustling world of visuals, printmaking serves as an origin story and sacred practice. 15th-century printmaking transfers images from a matrix onto a surface like fabric or paper through woodcutting, etching, engraving, lithography, and, more recently, adopted screenprinting. 

Asking artists to create one piece of artwork using printmaking, curators Adeel uz Zafar and Studio R.M. showcases a mosaic of Pakistani artists in the Lahore-based exhibit, Reexamine Retrace 2.0. From investigating themes like freedom and women’s bodies to innovating around the Mughal Miniature, the featured artists come together under the umbrella of printmaking to comment uniquely on their shared Pakistani culture and society at large. The gallery, too, builds on the meshing of old and new by simply pasting Q.R. codes linking to artists’ handmade works in rows around the bare white walls rather than physically displaying them. Below, are some highlights from the exhibit. 

Making-Remaking by Asif Ahmed

Pehelwan by Affan Baghpati

Hisaar by Ghulam Mohammad

Kis Cheez Ki Azadi? by Shehzil Malik

Self Absorption by Abdul Jabbar Gull

Lastly, GRUHAM by Anusha Novlani. Gruham, meaning home in Sanskrit was my favorite from the collection for illustrating home as a dreamy mix of old and new in its magical realism, like swirly clouds and Mughal-inspired geometric patterns. Watch the scenes of making GRUHAM in this reel. 

Discover more from GUAP’s Arts and Culture Section here.