Contemporary Art in Pakistan (38 images)

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It's a warm winter's afternoon in Karachi. Naiza and the blacksmith are working. She is holding up a spiked metal corset, he is welding on rivets with a blowtorch. Until Naiza came to his small, streetside workshop, Karim made railings and security grills. Suddenly he found himself making a series of metal chastity belts that have been admired in galleries in Karachi, London and Dubai.

As Pakistan descends into chaos and the headlines shout of suicide attacks, terror camps and drones, there is a very different story to tell. From the well-lit walls of Lahore's National College of Art to Karachi's boutique galleries, things have never been better for Pakistani artists. The market is booming. Private art colleges are opening. Collectors and dealers are braving the suicide attacks, kidnappings and travel advisories to seek out the Young Pakistani Artists

"Oh my God, you've got a nude exhibition- don't the Taliban attack you?" is the response that many foreign visitors give Karachi gallery owner Sameera Raja. She is rueful about the stereotype. In Islamabad, just hours away from towns where women who shop alone are threatened with death, galleries exhibit life size figurines of copulating couples. In Lahore, the same city where stall owners have burnt imported DVDs, superstar artist Rashid Rana produced his famous collages of veiled women, constructed from tiny pornographic images. While in Karachi, Sameera has never had objections to any of her exhibitions. Up to now, art has remained safe in Pakistan by being exclusive. "People destroy CDs because they are accessible, but they will do not destroy a work of art. Because they don't see it, it doesn't affect their lives" according to curator and critic Quddus Mishra.

From hip galleries in Karachi to peeling art colleges in Lahore, this article reveals a side of Pakistan unknown in the West, featuring interviews with the key artists, gallery owners, collectors, critics and dealers.

Copyright - Ella Saltmarshe 2009
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