ISLAMABAD: There are those who love art, those who study it, and those who collect it —then there are those who take a new approach and combine all three.
Islamabad-based Zara Sajid — one half of the duo behind MyArtWorld, her partner is fellow curator and art collector Zainab Omar — has taken a lifelong passion for art to new heights.
With her own artwork under her belt, Zara has showcased Pakistani artists abroad, from India to the UAE, curated and executed a number of international shows and become a point person to speak about art, having recently been asked to give a talk at the tech and culture festival The MIX in Lahore.
Born in Abbottabad and spending most of her childhood in Rawalpindi, art was always present.
“My mother still has my sketches and doodles from my childhood,” Zara said. “I used to love designing cards and experiment with all sorts of materials and techniques — I didn’t know it was mixed media at the time but I guess it was innate.”
That innate call to art was highly encouraged by her family. “Art is something I grew up with. All my older cousins had studied at [National College of Arts] Lahore and my paternal grandmother had no formal training in art but used to make sculptures and was very artistic. I guess that’s the artsy gene that we inherited,” she said.
Following in her cousins’ footsteps, Zara went to NCA. And, after her graduation in 2013, she did her first show as a mixed media artist at the Taseer Art Gallery in Lahore. She then returned to Islamabad, where she curated her first show and showcased her own original art.
It was in that year that MyArtWorld was launched, and today it has more than 300 artists on its database and has organized more than 50 exhibitions.
“The idea was my partner Zainab’s. I moved back from Lahore, met her and we discussed the concept,” said Zara. “I’d call MyArtWorld an interactive curated online space for Pakistani contemporary art, where it’s not just about viewing the end product but following the entire process and being an active part of it.”
The pair sought to transform not only Pakistan’s, but the world’s approach to art coming from the South Asian nation. “Having an online art gallery was quite new at the time. No one was really doing it and we wanted to cater to the diaspora as well… making an entire experience of browsing through art, artist profiles and acquiring the art super convenient.”
Aside from giving people access to artists they may already love, there is also a strong focus on budding and hidden talent within the country. “We realized that the unsung heroes from urban and rural Pakistan needed to be given an international platform to showcase their talent,” Zara said.
“We’ve shown work by artists who have no formal training or a long list of exhibitions. I believe in giving people a chance to shine and work behind the scenes to promote their work constantly through all our social media platforms.”
Zara is also a budding collector with a trained eye. “Art is something you have to live with for the rest of your life, so it’s a slow process,” she said. “My most treasured piece was a gift — it is a portrait of me by Jimmy Engineer.
“A painting from Ujala Khan’s solo exhibition Catharsis is another that’s particularly interesting.
It’s my first abstract art acquisition and the movement in the painting constantly speaks to me and keeps morphing into forms I hadn’t previously noticed. It’s like a mood ring that keeps changing with my mood — it’s something I can keep staring at.’
Zara believes that, with the power of social media, artists in Pakistan have opportunities that other generations did not, as she discovers many of MyArtWorld’s contributors online. “I follow student works very closely at all the major art schools in the country and I feel like emerging contemporary artists from Pakistan are about to take over the art scene. They are raw, untainted by the commercial aspect of the art world,” she said.
When asked what advice she would give budding artists who want to be recognized by platforms such as hers, Zara said: “Consistency is the key. I see so many artists and enthusiasts who start with a bang but disappear shortly after. Their fame is short-lived.
“You have to keep at it and do it passionately without thinking about it commercially. I feel like money follows you once you’re working hard. I see lots of artists selling their work at prices as high as established artists working for over 20 years. Instead of being a one-hit wonder, be a name to be reckoned with.”
Next up for Zara is curating “Chiaroscuro” in Dubai, two group shows in Islamabad and a trip to the UK for “Focus on: Pakistan at Artrooms London” in January.
