The act of documentation is probably one of the earliest habits that humans developed. From cave paintings to photographs to digital archives, documenting the human, lived experience has allowed us to study our past, understand the present and imagine the future. There is a lot being documented every day. Some of the most significant political and social movements have based themselves on this act alone. At times, when documentation has become an integral habit, it is important for us to question and challenge our understanding of it.

The exhibition at Numaish Gah, titled Dastavez, curated by Irfan Gul Dahri, did that in an exceptional manner. Displaying the work of Ahmed Javed, Abid Aslam and SM Khayyam, the show presented an opportunity to the viewers to rethink the past and present, through the lens of documentation. While it challenged one to shift one’s perspective on human expression as a whole, it also inspired the viewer to re-imagine different ways of documenting and archiving history.

Abid Aslam’s work explored personal narratives and the shifting language of contemporary art. The artist believes that beyond its other functions, art serves as a unifying force between people and cultures, allowing them to connect to one another. Through his distinct visual language, Abid Aslam presented a playful take on human expression, by combining colorful patterns and various materials. His series Pool Party was an amalgamation of different material explorations, resulting in dynamic portraits. Using eyelets on the traditional wasli paper, Abid Aslam managed to create a dialogue between the work and the viewer. From afar, one could see the image as a whole, but once one gets closer, the focus shifted to individual dots and floral patterns. The artist did not shy away from the complexity such materials present, and does justice to both the subject being documented and the process and materiality.

Similar floral patterns were present in another series inspired by portraits the artist took during his residency in Spain. Abid drew the viewer’s eye to the subject in these paintings, through his attention to detail and composition. Featuring musicians from the streets of Spain, these paintings were an explosion of bold colours and patterns, depicting the emotions these memories hold for the artist.

SM Khayyam’s work explored the past by recontextualising iconic figures found in traditional Mughal paintings. It evoked those images in our memory and reframes them through the artist’s distinct visual style. Using natural pigments along with gouache, he had painted faded figures on aged paper. The translucency in his work played with the idea of vision and memory, the seen and unseen, balancing between what is remembered with what is forgotten. In two items, titled Jahanara and Enigmatic of Temporality, the subjects were accompanied by bright blue Kufic script, painted using Lapis Lazuli. In renaissance painting, Lapis Lazuli was typically used to paint the figure of Mary. It thus became a symbol of royalty and immortality. Thus, the materials that Khayyam used in his paintings held significance on their own. These juxtaposed different layers of history and meaning in his work.

Ahmed Javed’s work with traditional methods of miniature painting documented the lives of contemporary artists. Javed often finds himself challenging not only the contemporary art scene, but also the different, generally negative, stereotypes attached to the artists. His work captured the nuanced lives of contemporary artists in the way the old masters had documented the lives of the Mughals. Discussing the process behind his work, he described the detail in which he documents the spaces that artists work in; everything from the interior of their studios, their tools, mediums and body language. These details gave his work a life of its own, building strong narratives that depict the artists’ lives. Javed mentioned that it was important for him to document the artists in a way that was not only true to his style but also to them. In his recent work, on displayed at the exhibition, Javed had captured the urban spaces outside the artists’ studios since he believes that these spaces are integral to the narratives he is trying to depict.

Overall, the show was well curated. Every artist brought a unique perspective on the documentation of human expression. In fact, it presented a fresh understanding of documentation in the art world, allowing the viewers to re-imagine and understand it in a new way. Not only do such shows invite discourse around themes of the current art practice, but also challenge the ways in which materiality and mediums can play a role in the discussion.

The writer is a Lahore-based creative practitioner, currently completing her final year in Interdisciplinary Expanded Design and Art at BNU.