All about women

If there were no women, mankind wouldn’t be there. That is the bare truth. But then it is also true that a woman is incomplete without a man. That is precisely what Lahore-based artist Sumera Jawad has tried to bring home to viewers in her exhibition titled “Insinuation”.

The exhibition is currently running at the Artscene Gallery, Clifton, and runs up until December 1. Fortunately, none of her works is modern art and is an exercise in realism.

She paints women in different moods and situations. However, in each of her works there are clearly painted pretty women, alongside the dark silhouettes of men, the idea being that a woman is incomplete without a man. In other words, she is stressing the complementarity of the sexes. At the same time, she drives home the point that the woman is a very strong entity.

In her works, the dark silhouette of the man suggests that every woman has to have a man as a crutch to lean on. In all, there are 14 works of hers adorning the walls of the art gallery.

However, says the artist, “All these females are strong enough to exist and survive against all odds with more humanistic qualities and naturalistic potential, but with a deeper level of self-belief and dignity.”

In these paintings, the viewer becomes the protagonist and explores her world of human relationships of love, faith and trusted offerings without submissions and the key gender bias is no more dominant. Each image, she says, is intended to take the viewer on a mystery tour of his own experiences.

Sumera is teaching art at the University of the Punjab, Lahore, and did her PhD in studio practice. She has held solo exhibitions in London, Birmingham, and Rugby in the United Kingdom. The topic of her PhD thesis was “Women”.