Reflecting on heritage

Rida Fatima’s work was a reaction towards the demolition of hidden treasures of heritage sites in our country and she wanted viewers to contemplate the history of architecture in Mughal, Sikh and British periods, depicted in a solo show titled “Mirroring the Concrete” held at Mainframe Gallery, Karachi.

She draws on her own experiences while travelling through the city of Lahore.

She was fascinated to see the historical sites in the city but was disappointed to see the handling of these sites by the authorized people. Nobody seemed to care about the situation as was the case with historical sites affected by the Orange Line Metro Train construction so as a young painter and sculptor she decided to capture the historical buildings in her artworks for people to remember their actual images before the destruction of a city in the name of urban development.

“To me, it is not only the demise of architectural face of city, it is the deconstruction of the social fabric as well. It took generations to make the character of a city and it is being demolished with arrogance,” she said.

Lahore is one of the oldest cities of the world with the ancient ruins. She painted images of depilated red brick walls, doors, windows, fractured columns and balconies, thus she portrayed the facades of ruined or threatened buildings. The Lahore buildings were portrayed without foundation, there was no weight that binds them to the ground, no guarantee that their traces will remain for the years to come for future generations. In this sense, they appeared truly as memento.

Elaborating her work, Rida said, “Mirroring the concrete is a reflection of ephemeral world where human bodies exist and get attached to the remains of concrete. My art practice explores the intricate relationship between rural and urban sites with explicit attention to the urban development in which globalisation,

technology and materialism affect these two realms. I have been working on the constant cycle of construction and deconstruction which affect the infrastructure of human physical existence.”

Mostly she picked a small portion of a building to be captured in her artworks so that she can concentrate on details of the architecture and the story behind the walls. Her subject’s doors, windows, balconies, tiles and walls provided a peek in the past to the viewers.

Most of these works were created with conventional construction materials being used in Lahore for centuries. She employed wood and pigments to replicate wooden bricks and comes up with stunningly beautiful worn-out textures carrying the rustic aura of the old city. Her artworks spoke of an age of grace and splendour.