Traversing Borders in Art

Artists: Masooma Syed and Rakhi Peswani
Discussant: Amrita Gupta Singh

February 15, 2010 | 6.30 pm
Goethe Hall, Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai

Masooma Syed will present her works and also address the development of her art practice in dialogue with her contemporaries in Pakistan. Masooma and other artists of her generation shaped the face of the contemporary art scene in Pakistan and have succeeded in opening up a fresh chapter with the discourse of the local with the global. Her presentation will also emphasize on the concerns of academics, teaching art and/or practicing art in contemporary Pakistan.

Masooma Syed received B.EA in Painting (1994) and Masters in Visual Arts (2002) from the National College of Arts, Lahore. She is a recipient of the Common Wealth Foundation Fellowship Award Art & Craft, 1996 and HAT International Research Fellowship, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, England, 2007. She has taught in many design and fine arts schools across the world since 1996 and has participated in several group shows internationally and solo shows in Pakistan and Australia.

Rakhi Peswani is inspired by the chaotic maturity of Indian cities into metropolitans, as it provides an abundant engagement with the visual. The experiences of fragmentation in contemporary urbanization brings the focus of the self towards the processes of traditional crafts; routing her to the notions of individuality through the language of these processes. In her presentation, Rakhi will address these issues while talking about her art practice and its development over the years.

Rakhi Peswani has a Bachelor’s degree in painting and a Master’s in sculpture from M.S University of Baroda. Rakhi is a recipient of the Emerging Artist Award, 2007, presented by Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA), Vadehra Art Gallery; Inlaks Scholarship in residence at Cittadellarte, Fondazione Pistoletto; Peers-2003 at KHOJ, Delhi. She has participated in selected group shows. Her solo shows include Intertwinnings’ at Vadehra Art Gallery in 2009, ‘Sonnet for Silent Machines’ at Jehangir Nicholson Gallery and The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai in 2007. Rakhi is currently teaching at Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication, Hyderabad Central University, Hyderabad since 2004.

Amrita Gupta Singh is an art historian, researcher, and writer involved in art education and cultural management. She is Program Director at Mohile Parikh Center, Mumbai.