LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: The Lahore Biennale, a large-scale international contemporary exhibition ongoing in the Pakistani city of Lahore, is aiming to reclaim the historical city’s place on the international arts calendar, its curator and featured artists have said, and be a “collective and participatory” event that involved the whole city and its citizenry.
Of Mountains and Seas, the third edition of the Biennale, is curated by John Tain, the head of research at Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong, and considers the themes of ecology and sustainable futures, with special reference to recent floods and agricultural disasters in Pakistan as well as the country’s urban pollution and social, economic, political and sexual inequalities.
This will be the first edition since 2020, which had Emirate curator Hoor Al Qasimi at the helm and was displayed before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Biennale features over 60 artists representing 30 countries, presenting site-specific exhibits as well as immersive installations that draw attention to issues caused by environmental degradation, along with illuminating the city’s vernacular and indigenous heritage as transformative resources for future sustainability.
Exhibitions are being featured across a dozen venues across the city, including the UNESCO World Heritage site the Lahore Fort in the ancient Walled City and the famed Mughal-era Shalimar Gardens, a true treasure of Islamic garden design and hydrology that will be showcased for the first time in the Biennale.
“We wanted to showcase our art in a bustling public space, not art as gate-kept by colonial legacies or their bureaucracies,” Abdullah Qureshi, a Pakistani Artist who curated a show titled: ‘Decolonial Feminist Ecologies: On Body and Land’ put together by the Pakistan Art Forum (PAF) in collaboration with the Lahore Biennale Foundation, told Arab News.
“We tend to think of art as this controlled, quiet space where people are observers from a distance. [The artists in this show] think about these ideas outside the Western canon.”
A press release by the biennale management said the idea of placing historic sites in dialogue with more contemporary works was aimed at bringing to light the ways Lahore’s celebrated culture, architecture, and gardens, “generally understood to symbolize its palimpsest of connections to Asia and Europe through trade routes and the migration of people and knowledge, also connects with more recent conversations about the significance of historical and indigenous forms of knowledge and practices as necessary alternatives to the extractivism that plague modern societies.”
“Evidence of these local and vernacular forms can be abundantly found everywhere in the architecture, art, cosmology, cuisine, and literature across the city, as well as in the diversity of its inhabitants— people whose relation to local and regional ecosystems have been fine-tuned over millennia of cohabitation and adaptation,” the statement added.
Tain, who has previously served as curator of modern and contemporary collections at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, sees the Lahore Biennale as being “collective and participatory in nature.”
“One way to think about a biennale is that it’s something which is a space in time that allows for activities and programs to take place and that necessarily involves other people outside the artist,” Tain said at an event before the launch of the exhibitions last week.
“So I think what is being planned is not artists just making work and putting it on wall or putting it on a floor, but thinking about the work as something that involves other people.”
Qudsia Rahim, a graduate of Lahore’s esteemed National College of Arts and the executive director of the Lahore Biennale Foundation, said the purpose of the biennale was for the “whole city” to take part.
“To be a part of this biennial, you don’t necessarily have to be an artist,” she said. “The good thing about art is that you don’t need the wall of a drawing room or gallery but what’s important is an idea and for that an audience is important … So, the point of the biennale’s purpose is how can we connect with each other, because we are social animals and in a way we want the whole city to be a part of this biennale.”
“ART IN A BUSTLING PUBLIC SPACE”
Free and open to the public, the biennale commenced on Saturday, Oct. 5, and will run through Friday, Nov. 8, complemented by a number of collateral exhibitions and programs scattered all over the city.
One such show that took place during the opening weekend (October 5–7) was the ‘Decolonial Feminist Ecologies: On Body and Land,’ curated by Abdullah Qureshi and featuring Iranian-born artist Sepideh Rahaa and Kenyan-German collaborative artist Syowia Kyambi.
“This is a collateral event for the Lahore Biennale 03, which is taking place in the Brown House inside the Masjid Wazir Khan courthouse,” PAF founder Imtisal Zafar told Arab News, referring to a 17th-century Mughal mosque located in the Walled City.
The mosque was commissioned during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a part of an ensemble of buildings that also included the nearby Shahi Hammam baths. Considered to be the most ornately decorated Mughal-era mosque, Masjid Wazir Khan is on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.
“[Art] can’t be constricted to a neat and tidy studio or a clean canvas,” Nairobi-based Kyambi told Arab News. “Art is forever moving, changing and clamoring.”
Her work showed two distinct worlds, the high-rises and apartment complexes and rural countryside and at Thursday’s event, the artist handed out maps and pictures to her audience, shared stories and painted bright colors on a mud wall. She also encouraged her audience to speak out during her performance and voice their opinions on whether they liked it and what they understood of her art.
“We want to imagine futures of solidarity, community and resistance,” she said. “Not just stay quiet at everything unfolding in front of them.”
Speaking about the experience of working in a place as richly-textured and cosmopolitan as Lahore, with its many iconic and historical buildings, Kyambi said:
“When I entered for the first time to check the space [at Masjid Wazir Khan], it had a really light energy, and the rooftop is just perfect for my practice in this particular work, because it holds the scale but it’s also outdoors so the work can also keep on changing with the environment ... It’s wonderful to be near the mosque as well and I think it’s a really special part of town.”
PAF founder Zafar said the purpose of the biennale, like the ‘Decolonial Feminist Ecologies’ show arranged by the Pakistan Art Forum, was to promote local and lesser-known artists and bring them in conversation with international, globally acclaimed ones “to show the world how much talent we have here in Pakistan.”
Stephan Chow, a Singaporean artist whose work is featured at the Lahore Biennale, said the people of Lahore and Pakistan were very open to new ideas and art.
“This is my second trip to Pakistan,” he said, “and I find the people of Pakistan to be very rich in culture, knowledge, and they embrace ideas very well.”
Lahore Biennale aims to reclaim historical city’s place on international arts calendar
https://arab.news/bbxsp
Lahore Biennale aims to reclaim historical city’s place on international arts calendar
- Biennale features over 60 artists representing 30 countries and presenting site-specific exhibits as well as immersive installations
- Artworks are featured at a dozen venues including Mughal-era Lahore Fort and Masjid Wazir Khan in Walled City, iconic Shalimar Gardens
Fingerprints of the Syrian war: How conflict affected Syrian art
- Suffering ‘often becomes a powerful catalyst for impactful creative expression in era of rebuilding,’ Syrian artist Ahmad Elias says
RIYADH: Syria, where graffiti on one of Daraa’s walls was enough reason for a 14-year civil war to break out, causing distress and misery to the people in the country and outside its borders.
The civil war shattered all parts of Syria, once a thriving society with fascinating nature and rich history, and forced millions of people to flee the country for safer, more stable societies, carrying with their documents their memories of a place they once called home.
Syrian art was one form of expression for the people since the beginning of the war and continued to be after. Whether art is written or drawn, it carries a message, an emotion, or a story.
Ahmad Elias, a Syrian artist with more than 38 years’ experience in fine arts, has lived to witness the difference before, during, and after the war.
“It is natural for the average human being to be affected by the events around him, and it is more appropriate for the visual artist to be one of those most affected by his surroundings, as he is a being who carries delicate feelings and emotions and deals with images, formation and color,” he said.
Elias was born in Dayr Atiyah, Syria in the 1950s and has several years of experience during which he displayed his art in 14 local and international galleries.
“I am from a generation of artists who were taught by pioneers of fine art in Syria in the last century, most of whom studied art in Italy and Egypt,” Elias said.
“One of the most important professors whose guidance influenced me was Professor Afif Al-Bahnasi, may God have mercy on him, who used to direct us to benefit from the Arab and Islamic heritage.”
The Syrian artist told Arab News how his style was also influenced by other artists, especially during his early years.
“In my long artistic experience, I was influenced by the great artist Mahmoud Hammad, may God have mercy on him, who was the dean of the faculty of fine arts at that time. Through numerous exhibitions and shows, I developed my experience and introduced techniques specific to my art and style,” he said.
Elias was fortunate not to be directly exposed to the disasters of war and the unfortunate events that occurred in it, yet the significance of unfolding events still left a footprint on his work.
“Although I was not directly and tangibly exposed to the disasters of war and the unfortunate events that occurred in it, it affected my artistic works in terms of color connotations and expressive symbols; despite my keenness to keep such pains away from the artistic aspect of my works, which are characterized by a special abstract language,” he told Arab News.
Furthermore, artists who lived through the war and witnessed its horrors but did not leave Syria as refugees expressed the painful scenes in their own style, Elias said.
Some artists depicted the destruction and human suffering in a realistic way, others expressed the tragedy evident on the faces, and others depicted the sadness and pain in the faces of the bereaved and the crying of women and children.
“Many artists depicted and documented in their artwork the mass displacement and asylum movement fleeing death and destruction,” he said.
“Among those who left abroad and saw the death boats, they had tragic artworks depicting the boats struggling with the waves of the sea, including the human souls of women, men, and children, and telling many tragic stories and tales about the survivors of those horrors that make the body shudder and shake every conscience.”
Describing the devastation of war, Elias said: “The events of the war and its human tragedies will remain in the conscience of the Syrians, and the tragedy of the Syrians who were wronged with all kinds of injustice, abuse, displacement and destruction will remain a stain of shame in the history of those who claim to be civilized, humane and defend human rights.”
On the other hand, Syrian art is ancient and has a distinguished history that was demonstrated by Syrian artists at the beginning of the 20th century.
Artists have documented in their artwork all the events their country has gone through, all the great and tragic forms.
From Elias’s perspective, the artist is by nature “a witness and documenter of his era,” similar to a poet or a writer, and all arts, in all their differences, meet in common and unified orientations and goals, whether visual, literary or auditory. Each artist, he said, expresses themselves in their own language.
“Syrian fine art, with its deep roots and solid foundations, remains resilient despite the years of war and turmoil the country and its people have endured. These hardships will likely serve as a source of inspiration and a drive for rebuilding and renewal. Artists, as always, will stand at the forefront, as suffering often becomes a powerful catalyst for impactful artistic and creative expression,” Elias said.
“With the fall of the former regime in Syria, now consigned to the pages of history, beloved Syria will reclaim its noble, radiant, and cultured status. The foundations of a modern Syria will be built by the dedicated hands of its honorable citizens, with the support of its Arab brothers, led by the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its wise and visionary leadership.”
Alia Shawkat promotes projects at Sundance Film Festival
DUBAI: US Iraqi actress Alia Shawkat is at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival in Utah, the US, to promote her latest projects.
Shawkat attended the premiere of “Atropia” on Saturday, before hitting the stage with actor Jon Hamm to discuss their Audible original series “The Big Fix: A Jack Bergin Mystery” on Sunday.
“Atropia” is a 2025 American war satire film written and directed by Hailey Gates. The film follows an aspiring actress, played by Shawkat, who works on a US military base that simulates an Iraqi war zone.
It is a real concept that the US military employs, with the director telling IndieWire that she “tried to make a documentary about it first.”
“So I did a lot of research and visited a bunch of the bases. Sort of working my way up the (Department of Defence), and they weren’t interested in my documentary. So then I thought it was a subject ripe for satire. I think America’s misunderstanding of the people they’re invading is inherently comedic,” Gates added.
Shawkat also stars in audio thriller “The Big Fix: A Jack Bergin Mystery,” in which Hamm plays Jack Bergin, an FBI agent turned private investigator.
The eight-part series, created by John Mankiewicz and directed by Aaron Lipstadt, is a sequel to Audible’s cinematic audio drama “The Big Lie.” The new season debuts on Audible on April 24 and tells “a riveting tale of corruption and displacement in 1950s Los Angeles,” according to Audible.
Hamm is joined by returning cast members Ana de la Reguera and John Slattery, alongside newcomers Shawkat, Omar Epps, Erin Moriarty, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Sosie Bacon, David Giuntoli and Taylor Zakhar Perez.
The series is set in 1957, when Bergin finds himself entangled in a web of power, corruption and murder that reaches local government.
In a released statement, Shawkat commented: “I’m proud to be a part of such an outstanding project, and I’m eager for listeners to immerse themselves in this captivating story we’ve crafted together. I really enjoyed playing in this era with a fast-paced, well-written mystery.”
A Sundance documentary called ‘The Stringer’ disputes who took AP’s ‘napalm girl’ photo in Vietnam
- Before having seen the film, the AP conducted its own investigation over six months and concluded it had “no reason to believe anyone other than Ut took the photo”
PARK CITY, Utah: After a half-century of public silence, a freelance photographer from Vietnam has asserted he took one of the most renowned and impactful photos of the 20th century — the image of a naked girl fleeing a napalm attack in South Vietnam that has long been credited to a staff photographer from The Associated Press.
Nguyen Thanh Nghe claimed authorship of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “napalm girl” photograph in the new documentary “The Stringer” and on the sidelines of its premiere Saturday night at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
The AP conducted its own investigation and said it has no reason to conclude that no one other than the long-credited photographer, Nick Ut, made the picture. The news agency said it was “surprised and disappointed” that filmmakers portrayed it as having reviewed the film’s materials and being dismissive. The AP said it saw the film for the first time at Sundance.
Nghe joined the filmmakers for the post-screening Q&A where he said, through a translator, “I took the photo.” The audience cheered enthusiastically. He did not say why he waited so long to make the claim.
The AP said it would review the material but wants to speak to contributors who signed non-disclosure materials for the filmmakers, including Nghe. “We cannot state more clearly that The Associated Press is only interested in the facts and a truthful history of this iconic photo.”
Investigating an image captured in the fog of war
Nguyen says he took the iconic photo of Kim Phuc on June 8, 1972. Nghe said he went to the town of Trang Bang that day as a driver for an NBC news crew and captured the image of Phuc running down the street, crying and naked with arms outstretched. He said he sold his image to the AP for $20, and they gave him a print of the photo that his wife later destroyed.
Representatives for the AP, who saw the film for the first time Saturday at the premiere, are contesting the film’s implication that the company reviewed their findings and dismissed them.
“As recently as December, we reiterated our request to see the filmmakers’ full materials and they did not respond, nor did they include AP’s full response in the film,” Lauren Easton, an AP spokesperson, said Sunday. “We were surprised and disappointed that the film portrayed AP as having reviewed the film’s materials and being dismissive of the allegations, which is completely false.”
The film’s investigation was led by husband-and-wife team of Gary Knight, founder of the VII Foundation, and producer Fiona Turner. Bao Nguyen, a Vietnamese American filmmaker, directed.
“I’m not a journalist by any stretch of the imagination,” Nguyen said. “I had a healthy skepticism, as I think anyone would, going against a 53-year-old truth. ... But as a storyteller and a filmmaker, I thought it was my both or my responsibility and my privilege to be able to uplift the story of individuals like Nghe.”
AP investigated independently
Before having seen the film, the AP conducted its own investigation over six months and concluded it had “no reason to believe anyone other than Ut took the photo.” Now, the AP is calling on the filmmakers to lift the non-disclosure agreements they placed on their subjects to allow the company to investigate more fully.
“AP stands ready to review any and all evidence and new information about this photo,” Easton said.
Knight and Turner met with AP in London last June about the allegations. According to the AP, filmmakers requested the news organization sign a non-disclosure agreement before they provided their evidence. AP would not. The film suggests that evidence was presented to the AP, which the AP says is not true.
A primary source in the film is Carl Robinson, then an AP photo editor in Saigon, who was overruled in his judgment not to use the picture by Horst Faas, AP’s Saigon chief of photos. Robinson says in the film that Faas instructed him to “make it staff” and credit Ut for the photo. Both Faas and Yuichi “Jackson” Ishizaki, who developed the film, are dead. Robinson, 81, was dismissed by the AP in 1978.
On Saturday, a Sundance Institute moderator asked why he wanted to come forward with the allegations now. “I didn’t want to die before this story came out,” Robinson told the audience after the screening. “I wanted to find (Nghe) and say sorry.”
A variety of witnesses interviewed by AP, including renowned correspondents such as Fox Butterfield and Peter Arnett and the photo’s subject herself, Phuc, say they are certain Ut took the photo.
The documentary included forensics of the scene
Robinson was one such person the AP attempted to speak to during their investigation but “were told we could only do so under conditions” that they said would have prevented them from “taking swift action if necessary.”
The film’s investigation took over two years. The journalists enlisted a French forensics team, INDEX, to help determine the likelihood of whether Ut had been in a position to take the photo. The forensics team concluded that it was highly unlikely that Ut could have done it.
Ut’s attorney, James Hornstein, had this to say Sunday after the premiere: “In due course, we will proceed to right this wrong in a courtroom where Nick Ut’s reputation will be vindicated.”
Knight referenced AP’s investigation Saturday, telling the audience that the company’s statement is available online. “They said they’re open always to examining the truth. And I think it was a very reasonable thing to say,” Knight said. “Our story is here and it’s here for you all to see.”
He added: “Things happen in the field in the heat of the moment. ... We’re all stronger if we examine ourselves, ask tough questions, and we’re open and honest about what goes on in our profession. Now more than ever, I would argue.”
“The Stringer” does not yet have distribution plans.
Review: ‘Black Snow’ unearths dark secrets in small-town Australia
- The series provides insight into the South Sea Islander community, highlighting its rich history and struggles in a way that feels both authentic and respectful
“Black Snow” is a captivating Australian mystery-drama series that combines crime, culture, and community.
The show's season one is set in a small, tight-knit town in Northern Queensland, where the murder of a 17-year-old girl shocks the residents.
Decades later, the case remains cold — until a piece of startling new evidence is unearthed from a 25-year-old time capsule, reopening the investigation and forcing the town to confront buried secrets.
As the story unfolds, viewers are taken on a journey through shifting timelines, uncovering hidden truths about the victim, her family, and the community she left behind.
What truly sets “Black Snow” apart is its focus on cultural depth.
The series provides insight into the South Sea Islander community, highlighting its rich history and struggles in a way that feels both authentic and respectful.
The show not only explores the devastating impact of the murder on this community but also sheds light on their historical marginalization, making it much more than a typical mystery.
Travis Fimmel delivers a standout performance as Det. James Cormack, the investigator tasked with solving the decades-old case.
Cormack’s dogged determination, combined with his personal flaws, makes him an intriguing and relatable character.
The ensemble cast also shines, with heartfelt performances that bring depth to the town's residents, each harboring their own secrets and motivations.
Visually, “Black Snow” is stunning, with breathtaking cinematography that captures the beauty of Queensland’s sugarcane fields and coastal landscapes, while emphasizing the isolation and tension of the small town.
The show’s eerie atmosphere is heightened by a deliberate, slow-burn pacing that meticulously unravels the mystery, though it may feel overly drawn out to viewers who prefer faster narratives.
However, the series does have minor shortcomings.
Some secondary characters are underdeveloped, and while the mystery is compelling, it occasionally leans on familiar crime drama tropes that risk feeling predictable.
Immersive installation takes center stage at Quoz Arts Fest with ENESS’s ‘Forest Dancer’
DUBAI: As part of this year’s Quoz Arts Fest in Dubai, ENESS, the Australian-based creative studio, will debut an immersive light and sound installation titled “Forest Dancer and the Path to Pure Creation” at Concrete in Alserkal Avenue on Jan. 25-26.
ENESS founder Nimrod Wies said that the installation symbolized “freedom and joy through creativity.”
“The artwork promotes the idea that embracing your creative gifts positively impacts those around you and inspires you to find your place in humanity through art,” he said. “We hope that visitors experience joy and playfulness in our exhibition and take away from it the inspiration to fill their lives with creativity and expression.”
The installation features inflatables packed with computers controlling sound, lightplay and motion-tracking LED eyes. “The biggest challenge is that we arrive from the other side of the world and we work all hours to create a completely immersive artwork that takes over any space that it occupies,” Wies said.
“The most rewarding part of my journey has been to exhibit all over the world and see different people respond to the artworks. I love seeing the appreciation audiences feel and experience, and hearing their joyful feedback.”
Speaking about the festival’s appeal, Wies said: “Working with Quoz Arts Fest suits the ENESS vision because we love to be involved in local cultures and bring our work to thriving areas with all-ages audiences who are open to new ideas. We think that the Alserkal neighborhood is the coolest place in Dubai.”
Wies said that public art created opportunities for alternate behavior and emotion. “Public spaces are generally relatively codified with clear designations for what sort of behavior is undertaken where. However, the introduction of public art can reconfigure a space visually, emotionally and behaviorally.”
Looking ahead, Wies said: “We have works coming up all around the world. We are looking forward to our next experience in Saudi Arabia.”
