Samra Malik

S.M. Naqvi acquired his diploma in graphic designing from the Mashkoor Art School and was awarded the Quaid e Azam award. He has also studied art under the renowned Pakistani artist Iqbal Mehdi. Naqvi’s artworks demonstrate intensity of colors and bold strokes in abstract form. The artist aims to stir the inner soul and connects the viewer not just to the beauty of human experience in its existence but also what lies beyond the vision. In his artworks, he alters colors and forms to achieve total abstraction that bears no relation to anything recognizable. The outcome is an explosion of technique and color.

Wajid Ali is an artist hailing from Sukkur, Sind. A self taught artist, he has won acclaim for his Divided Soul series where he explores the tension between the two personas within us, one which is our authentic self and a false one which we portray to the outside world.

Maqbool Ahmed is a graduate of the National College of Arts in Lahore. The artist is passionate in addressing women’s suppression and lack of expression in Asian society. His artworks depict voluptuous forms with unpainted facial features, which leaves the viewer to create his own visage for the figure thus leaving the viewer to unfold the hidden story depicted in the artwork. Maqbool’s artworks have been part of exhibitions in Malaysia, Canada and Dubai. His artistic philosophy is concisely expressed in his own words: “A painting cannot be translated into the words of any language”.

The late Mohammad Kazim was a renowned painter, printmaker and calligrapher. Kazim gained popularity for his Indus Valley and Mohenjo-Daro series of artworks and his depictions of women from that era. He would mold the figures with his hands using mulmul cloth and handmade paper and vegetable dyes. The figures would almost protrude in a 3D effect while the colors would be textured in soft hues.