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politics art review No love
among the ruins Fake,
fake, fake!
politics The last couple of weeks have seen national politics taking fast twists every day with the promised Women’s Protection Bill failing to materialise By Ashraf Malkham That is one bill that is still awaited. After the hullabaloo that accompanied the government move, after the brandishing of all those good intentions, the Pakistani women are as ill-protected today as they have ever been. The Women's Protection Bill exists but in limbo following an abrupt prorogation of a National Assembly session that was supposed to facilitate its passage and bring in a new era of enlightenment. The surprise, the shock, the inevitable halt -- whichever of the three you may subscribe to -- came at a time when the government 'allies', especially the Pakistan People's Party-Parliamentarians, were expecting a major breakthrough on the Women's Protection Bill. The PPPP had sided with the government for six long months during which the bill was deliberated on, staying at a distance from the opposition Muttaheda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and Pakistan Muslim League-N-as far on this particular issue. A passage seemed imminent when the National Assembly's select committee approved a draft bill. Radicals among the government as well as in the the opposition's ranks hoped to get rid of the controversial Hudood Ordinance whereas the conservatives, both in the government and the MMA, vociferously opposed the amended draft branding certain clauses in it as being against the teachings of Quran and Sunnah. It even threatened to resign from the assembly. It was clear from the outset that the bill could not be passed without MMA's consent. Even if somewhat belatedly, an Ulema Committee was formed by the government to develop consensus on the issue. Though the committee was given a recommendatory role, it proved to be much stronger than the National Assembly's Select Committee which was also assigned the task of fixing the draft. The Ulema Committee soon declared at least two clauses of the amended draft as being against Quran and Sunnah. It was at this moment that the National Assembly proceedings were prorogued. No date was given for the next session. Some supporters of the bill suspect an underhand deal between the government and the MMA. Although the bill remained on the agenda for as long as the session lasted, the government did not take it up for the parliament's consideration, choosing to defer it -- which is what the Leader of the Opposition in the House, Maulana Fazlur Rehman also wanted. There was a 24-term agenda on the order of the last day's proceedings. But just after the question hour, the National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain read out the prorogation order of the House, signed by President Pervez Musharraf. The National Assembly rules say whenever the House is prorogued without vote, the existing select committee stands disbanded. Now a new select committee will be formed to consider a new draft of the bill with new amendments which means the whole process will be repeated. The National Assembly session was to be originally prorogued on August 31, 2006, but it was extended -- to get the bill passed by the House. The government had also summoned the Senate session in order to pass the bill after the National Assembly's approval. Pakistan Muslim League President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had included six additional amendments to the draft bill to accommodate proposals made by the Ulema Committee, while indicating that the draft bill may be sent back to the committee. But Shujaat failed to persuade the MMA to sit in the Select Committee meeting. The only success the government had during these 46-day-long proceedings was that it created a rift in the opposition -- but that too came at the cost of unrest within the government's ranks. The government allies-the MQM and the PPP-Patriots-opposed any MMA sponsored amendments to the bill while sticking to their stance that they will only support the bill drafted by the Select Committee. Meanwhile, the government decision to establish Ulema Committee and then postpone the issue till further orders was most embarrassing for the PPPP. The party had fully supported the bill for being "in line with its manifesto and stance". Federal Minister for Law, Wasi Zafar, tells The News on Sunday the government decision to prorogue National Assembly session will not hurt the cause: "The bill is very much the property of the House and it would be on the agenda once the session is summoned by the end of this month or in the first week of October." MMA's Deputy Secretary-General Liaquat Baloch says the government failed to make progress as "it was not serious on the issue. It took up the bill just to please its foreign masters and to divide the opposition." MMA leader and head of the opposition's Ulema Committee Hafiz Hussain Ahmad concurs with Baloch. He says the bill had been taken up for discussion on the behest of the US. Hafiz tells TNS that MMA had taken the matter seriously and proposed six amendments to the bill. These included those related to divorce, girls' marriages to Quran, Karokari and marriages in exchange (watta-satta). If the government had been serious in solving the issue, it could have brought the bill for voting in the House where it enjoyed a majority, he says. Hafiz says the amended draft of the bill was signed by the Ulema Committee, PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Pervez Elahi but even then the government preferred to defer voting on it. Terming it an official ploy to offset the real question, he says the government will raise the issue again whenever the opposition presses Musharraf to quit the office of the army chief. The bill will be used to divert local and international pressure for restoration of democracy in the country. Elaborating his point, Hafiz says General Pervez Musharraf needed two things for his ongoing US visit. The first one was to get a certificate from Afghan President Hamid Karzai that Pakistan was ably playing its role in anti-terrorism drive and the other was to ensure that the syllabus of Pakistan's educational institutions is changed according to the wishes of the US. Though Musharraf managed to win Karzai's confidence during his recent visit to Kabul, he failed to introduce the desirable changes in the syllabus of Pakistan's educational institutions. Obviously, Hafiz attributes this to the fact that MMA was in charge of the ministries of education in Balochistan and NWFP. Having lost on this count, Musharraf wanted to go to the US with Women's Rights Bill in hand -- an attempt which the MMA claims to have foiled. Hafiz Hussain debunks NGOs and a certain embassy in Pakistan for their campaign to amend Hudood laws: "They ran special campaigns in support of this bill but ran into MMA at every step." PPPP legislator Sherry Rehman tells TNS her party supported the bill because it was in accordance with its manifesto. She says it was strange that the government carried on with a long public relationing exercise with no results at the end. The campaign was not much different from the one run to explain the concept of enlightened moderation to the masses, she adds. Sherry tries to dispel the impression that her party has been toeing the Western line in this regard: "I have been struggling against these ordinances for the last 19 years and have suffered torture at the hands of the government agencies because of my position." She disagrees with the notion that the opposition stands divided on the bill: The MMA and PPPP have two distinct viewpoints on the matter whereas the government has none. According to Sherry Rehman there is no truth in the government claim that it wants to build consensus on Women's Protection Bill. "Did they develop consensus before killing Sardar Akbar Bugti? Did they honour parliamentarians' recommendations on Balochistan?" she asks. The official view PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who played an important role in introducing amendments to the Women's Protection Bill, the establishment of the Ulema Committee and finally deferring of voting on the bill till further orders, says the government does not want to take any hasty decision on the issue. "This is no easy task. We want consensus and ensure that nothing against Quran and Sunnah becomes part of the bill," he says. Chaudhry Shujaat and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz have both denied there is international pressure on Pakistan to pass this bill. Shujaat's response to the suggestion is typical: If President Bush talks to President Musharraf about the Women's Protection Bill, Musharraf will in turn ask the US to pass a similar bill in the US, for women in the US are living in conditions worse than those which exist in Pakistan and are routinely subjected to torture. There are discrepancies in the ministerial versions, though. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain says that following the inclusion of six additional clauses, the ulema have agreed to the bill. The Federal Minister for Justice, Shahid Akram Bhinder, and Law Minister, Wasi Zafar, both say the bill would be tabled in the assembly as it was passed by the select committee and they make no mention of the six new clauses. If their word is law, the Ulema Committee recommendations will not be included in it before the parliament votes on it. The final decision as always will be President Pervez Musharraf's. --
Ashraf Malkham
art
review Two artists show work that signifies a change of attitude towards miniature art By Quddus Mirza Miniature painters in the Mughal period and after sought out the squirrel for its hair, to make their slim brushes with. Today, some of their followers are using an animal of a wholly different kind, the mouse, to create visuals which can be classified as modern miniatures. This mouse is not the creature which evokes revulsion when it pokes its head out of the corner, but the shapely computer accessory. With the spread of the computer, the mouse has become a household item. You get it in all shades and designs; and most people are familiar with its touch, use and usefulness. Apparently miniature painters are also discovering the benefits of the mouse. Some of them don't seem too keen on the whole process of catching a squirrel, plucking the hair off its back and turning it into brushes with which to paint on handmade paper, applying locally made colours. Instead, they are looking to new modes of creative expression, such as computer generated visuals and mixed-media prints. A number of them are combining the traditional surfaces and ways of working with new media and methods, while others have made a complete turnabout by totally coming to depend on the mechanical means of image making. A transformation of this kind was observed in a recent exhibition of miniature painters at the Croweaters Gallery in Lahore, which opened on 12th September and will close on the 25th. It shows works by Nusra Latif Qureshi, Tazeen Qayyom, Shehr Bano Qizilbash, Hasnat Mehmood and Wasim Ahmed are displayed. Although all these artists -- with the exception of Shehr Bano Qizilbash -- graduated from NCA, one can find a difference between the art of the two women artists residing outside of Pakistan, and two male painters who live and work in this country. The contrast in gender is accidental; rather it is the place associated with the revival of miniature art that distinguishes Nusra's and Tazeen's work from Wasim's and Hasnat's. The new works of the two male artists suggest that both of them, after enjoying considerable success in their different styles, are now approaching their imagery in the mannerists' idiom. For instance the latest paintings of Wasim Ahmed contain a mixture of naked western women and transparent veils, but he has been doing the same type of work for a number of years and this juxtaposition has become a cliche (just like the word 'juxtaposition', another cliche in the discourse on art). It feels as if the painter is trying to introduce some new element, but it is more of a surface treatment than anything else -- filling the background with a coat of red or decorating it with the Urdu and Arabic script. His recent paintings are an effort to retain the old flavour and vitality of his previous paintings, but these being mere repetitions of a thoroughly digested set of imagery and subject matter, fail to convey the artistic intelligence of the painter. Same is the case with Hasnat Mehmood. His work is a blend of all the useful components of 'successful' miniature painting. So in his paintings one comes across the necessary ingredients, such as the form of takhti, gold and silver leaves, the face of the king and a familiar tea stain on the paper: images, treatments (and tricks) to forge a genuine 'contemporary miniature'. In the same sense, his other paintings also reflect the usual concerns and predictable visual solutions, as in the court scene with some figures fully rendered and others drawn in outline. In fact it is the work of Nusra Latif and Tazeen Qayyum that indicates a change in the aesthetic of recent miniature. Tazeen, in her opaque watercolour and digital print on wasli, combines the painted and printed imagery. Although various sections of her work -- painted by hand or from a computer -- were created separately, she blends the two parts in such a manner that a new and independent narrative is created. She often uses the picture of an insect, mainly the cockroach, next to lavish and exquisite pieces of fabric or thread reels with a design painted on them. Probably for the painter, who lives abroad, the image of a cockroach -- a creature that can survive in the most unfavourable circumstances and hostile environments -- signifies the position of an expatriate, who often has to live in unpleasant surroundings and hard conditions. The most remarkable aspect of Tazeen's work is her mastery in joining the two media (hand painted and digital prints) in order to fabricate a uniform visual. A similar approach is evident in the paintings and digital prints of Nusra Latif. She is showing a few miniatures prepared in conventional methods and media along with some digital prints on paper. Interestingly, the two sorts of works, seen side by side, do not appear contradictory, because in both painted and printed surfaces the specific aesthetic of the artist is the most dominating and obvious aspect. She distributes her composition in various visual elements drawn in outline or in shapes and placed on top or very close to each other. The images are derived from the Mughal miniatures, from drawings made in the colonial period and prints of local popular designs. The diverse images are knit in such a way that the paintings tell a story about love, longings and political situations. Besides hand-painted miniatures, a number of digital prints by Nusra are displayed in the ongoing exhibition. In fact her move from the conventional painting to the computer-based medium seems logical for her practise of using sensitive lines with recognisable shapes on flat backgrounds. Somehow her pictorial sensibilities, consisting of precise marks and flat colours, always had the possibility of being rendered in digital printing. In the same way Tazeen's attempts to draw insects in a pattern and to portray the texture of the fabric, were best suited to being rendered in this medium. The work of these two artists not only signifies a change in material and tools, but it also indicates a shift in the attitude towards miniature painting. Probably miniature, for them, is not a means of flaunting their ethnicity or impressing the viewers with their unique skill; it is more about ideas which need to be executed in the language of their times. In this respect, the recent show at Croweaters is an important event, because it heralds a new beginning in our much-loved art of miniature making.
A reason other than
glorifying the application of force must be found for securing and saving
monuments in the Middle East By Sarwat Ali Whenever there is damage to historical sites in the world instant appeals are made for saving and repairing these monuments considered to be staging posts in human civilizational march. The most recent hue and cry has been about the heritage sites that have been damaged by the Israeli's in the war waged on Lebanon. A Roman tomb in Tyre and a medieval tower in Byblos have been significantly damaged and according to UNESCO are in urgent need of repair. At Tyre the Roman architecture has suffered direct damage, including the collapse of the fresco on a tomb only a few metres from the site's core, and in Babylos the effects of an oil spill which occurred after the Israelis government bombed a depot in Jiyeh are more obvious. The Venetians archeological remains near the city's harbour are dramatically stained and would be difficult to clean. A medieval tower from the time of the Crusades has also been affected. A strike by the Israeli planes caused the oil spill in Jiyeh, where million of gallons of oil gushed into the sea. Not since Saddam Hussain deliberately pumped crude oil into the Persian Gulf in 1991 has an act of war caused so much environmental damage. The Temple of Bacchus in the city of Baalbek, another world heritage site, is also suffering from widening cracks in its structure. Baalbek is quite possibly one of the most important Roman period sites in the East Mediterranean. Two other historical sites at Bin Jebeil and Chamaa, while not on the world heritage register, have been extensively damaged. Babylos, located north of Beirut, bears testimony to the Phoenician civilization and early urban organisation in the Mediterranean, which can be traced back nearly five thousand years. The Middle East is probably one of the most heritage-rich areas of the world. Mesopotamia has been the cradle of civilizations and many have left their footprints not only on the land between the Tigris and the Euphrates but on the evolution of the human consciousness as well. The entire expanse is full of history and its remains; some of it had been identified and named, the rest still a vast laboratory for the archeologists to work in. Three years ago one of the greatest casualties of the war in Iraq had been the destruction and vandalism of historical sites. The sadder aspect was that much of the looting and the vandalism that took place in the Baghdad Museum was after the Coalition forces had occupied it. In the mayhem that followed the total breakdown of civil order, and the absence of clearly defined role for the forces that entered the city, increased the possibility of Baghdad sinking into total chaos, but when the dust settled it became clear that much of the looting and vandalism could have been prevented. The Baghdad Museum only opened to the public in April 2000 after shutting down at the beginning of the 1991 Gulf War. It survived air strikes on Baghdad in 1991 and again was almost unscathed by attacks on the capital by U.S.-led forces. It did not become the casualty of war but what followed it. Some of the museum's artifacts had been moved into storage to avoid a repeat of damage to other antiquities during the 1991 Gulf War. It housed before the recent vandalism items from ancient Babylon and Nineveh, Sumerian statues, Assyrian reliefs and 5,000-year-old tablets bearing some of the earliest known writing. There are also gold and silver helmets and cups from the Ur cemetery. In view of the continuing violence the fate of the innumerable holy and religious sites that span the country too is unknown. Most of Biblical history is located in this area and the expansion, glory and tragedy of the Caliphate too is integrally linked to the plains of Dajla and Furat. Most of the monuments and grand structures from the past are testimonies to imperial power and glory. These monuments commemorate either some decisive victory or a battle that was hard fought and won and marked some crucial phase in the imperial expansion of empire. Most of these are homage to the effective use of force. These days paradoxically when force is being so savagely condemned, while there is ample use of it in the name of a just cause, the monuments to past use of force are almost held sacred and good enough to be saved and preserved. Well, there must be another reason for securing and saving these monuments rather than glorifying the application of force -- it could be for the artistic purposes of appreciation or a symbolic critical leap forward for the human race. There must be a magical moment or a golden turning point when a monument to the victory of a man, race, tribe, caste, religion or country passes as being a precious heritage for the whole of humankind. Many attempts have been made to read history selectively, to pick and choose from the point of view of the prevalent order. Literature, music, painting, sculpture and architecture have all been microscopically scrutinised from varying and various points of views. The past sliced and hacked is chosen and rejected in bits. The vital question is whether any objective assessment can be arrived at for identifying a structure from the past that serves and satisfies all concerned. Or the only way to respect the past is to de-link these monuments from their inherent motivating factors and judge in purely artistic terms of proportion, harmony and unity of form. Usually UNESCO is the international body responsible for identifying, safeguarding and preserving the culture and heritage of the world, but the manner in which the United Nations is being disregarded sounds a death knell. It seems that the fundamental reason for which the United Nations was established, to address the security issues of the international community, will become its minor function and its related bodies and agencies on human rights, food, health, population, refugees etc. etc. will be left to do damage control and repair, albeit under the mushroom cloud of the more powerful states.
Last week a British court sentenced three men in a case of art forgery. The case was particularly intriguing because it did not involve any typical criminal underworld but rather three quite middleclass men with lots of debts to pay. The group consisted of: Robert Thwaites, a graphic designer with failing eyesight who ran into financial problems because he had to pay his son's fees at a private school (54 000 pounds no less), his younger brother Brian, a former army man who has been in a wheel chair since an accident 15 years ago, and Gordon Strong, a former cricketing associate and a school teacher by profession. Robert Thwaites produced several paintings and sold them as the work of British painter John Anster Fitzgerald (1823-1906), whose paintings depict a distinctive, glowing realm populated by fairies and strange menacing spirits. One painting ('The Miser') was bought for 20 thousand pounds by a reputable art dealer, another was sold at auction for more than 100 thousand pounds. The brother pretended that the paintings were family heirlooms. The scheme was discovered only when they tried to sell another painting to an art dealer, who became suspicious and then had the picture professionally examined and discovered that the yellow pigment used had not been invented till several years after Fitzgerald's death. The court was quite lenient in its sentencing: Robert Thwaites was given two years in prison while his crippled brother was given a suspended sentence. The third man, Gordon Strong, who had helped with the sale and attested to the truth of the brother's claims that the paintings had been in the family for several years, was given an 18 month sentence to do 'community service'. It was a rather sad story though, and even the judge acknowledged this when he remarked on Thwaites' painting skills and talent. My favourite forgery scandal is the famous Van Meegeren case. After failing to find sucess as a painter in his own right, Van Meegeren (1889-1947) spent six years researching the work of 17th century painters Vermeer, Pieter de Hooch and Frans Hals, and then producing forgeries with their signatures. Experts didn't at all cotton on to the fact that these were not the works of these painters but were twentieth century forgeries and many of the works were described as exquisite! Van Meegeren was only discovered because he sold one of his forgeries to Herman Goering. After the end of the war this acquisition was discovered by the allied forces who then arrested Van Meegeren and charged him with having sold Dutch Cultural property to the Nazis, the maximum punishment of which was death. This is when Van Meegeren declared that he had done no such thing as the painting itself was a forgery and painted by him. The world watched with fascination as he proved his claim by producing another 'Vermeer' in his jail cell! Van Meegeren was sentenced to one year's imprisonment, but died of a heart attack soon afterwards. It is not known how many of his works are still in circulation as of one of the great masters! I love the story but have always found it strange that Van Meegeren's Vermeer copies should have been accepted as the real thing because I personally find his paintings very very inferior to any Vermeer work. I say this because his works do not have the beautiful and intriguing delicacy of the best Vermeers. Painting can speak: and I have often found they do this when you look at them without preconception or expectation. The best Vermeers are poignant, mournful, intriguing bejwelled glimpses into a mundane yet special world. The fakes simply do not speak that same silent language -- they use elements but the sum is less than the part of the whole. Of course we are lucky to now have scientific support. Super high-tech ways to date exactly the age of the material and the technique of the painter. But it is a strange thing that in this whole area, one always feels more sympathy for the artist forger than for the pompous 'expert'. Because of course the artist is saying -- "I can do this, if you are silly enough not to know the difference, that is your problem!" and thus showing the finger to the 'art establishment'. The expert, on the other hand, is the man who collaborates in the commodification of art and thus is not particularly popular with those who love painting. So I can feel some sympathy for people like Thwaites and Van Meegeren, but rather less for the 'expert'. Take the case of the pompous art history major in my art seminar at Princeton, who did his senior year thesis on a Rembrandt painting -- which was later proved a fake! I and several of my delinquent friends found it hilarious that Mr Pompous Preppy should thus have his come-uppance! Hopefully he didn't try to make a career as an art historian or curator! Okay, anybody can make a mistake, but we're less likely to do so if we can actually switch off our rational cameras for a while and see if the painting is saying anything at a visual or emotional level. The art world has so many vested interests that I am sure there are many forgeries which are simply not exposed because of dubious financial reasons. I have long been convinced that the awful painting 'Study of a Young Woman' attributed to Vermeer is not by him at all. It is just so crude compared with the the delicacy of touch and the atmosphere of his other paintings. The voice in that particular painting is not Vermeer's. So Van Meegeren is probably laughing at us from wherever he is now. Best
Wishes Umber
Khairi |
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