Educational institutes can project an uncanny appearance in the social sphere. In the daytime, they amass hallways, corridors and rooms jammed with wards, faculty and staff members busy in their clockwork, mostly forcibly but with rigour, always in anticipation of the ringing of the next bell and the one after that. The afternoon, perhaps, is the most cheerful time of the day. Peals of laughter emit from all corners as children wait to get picked up by their guardians while vendors outside the school gate hawk snacks among unruly students.

Once the last child leaves, the scene undergoes a drastic shift. The same hallways, nooks and crannies of the school building that had been bustling with life are now empty and gawking. They leave a hole so big that it takes the planet a whole turn to be whole again. The revelation in the dark presents the other side of the coin. This can be metaphorically described as a loophole in the educational system and curriculum that prompts values that go against our cultural ethos. The curriculum itself often provides a prudently censored and whitewashed version of history.

It is no wonder that this time the Roadside, a creative initiative led by artist and educator Ali Arshad, chose an actual school to represent — or expose — another façade. Even though a collateral to the ongoing Lahore Biennale, the pop-up exhibition was not meant to mollify the massive degradation of the environment and the ecosystems. It affirmed the major ‘contribution’ of humankind in terms of exploiting and mutilating natural resources.

The term ‘green washing’ has been exchanged intermittently within the curatorial premise. The work at the exhibition included prints by Aarish Sardar in which he underscores the shrouded concerns pertaining to the manufacturing of products camouflaged as eco-friendly and sustainable. Many industrialists fabricate winsome diversions through flamboyant branding and package design to subvert the biodegradation of the environment caused by the making of these commodities.

The exhibition was curated inside Qazi Apex Grammar School, Lahore, in such a manner that it not only disrupted the originality and genuineness of the space — or its purpose — but also enhanced its features as a place for imparting knowledge.

Wajeeha Batool’s digital installation recalls narratives from children’s books, baffling the viewer through its groovy imagery. Fatima Butt, on the other hand, comments on food waste and overconsumption at receptions and formal dinners while many sleep on an empty stomach.

Ayaz Jokhio, painter and educator, bears witness to the tainted landscapes of rural Sindh that have been hit by a consumerist culture. His painting installations depict the aestheticisation of politics, morally corrupt in its conception and application that can only be tolerated when injected through art. The work underscores the depravity of an imperialist ideology and its unsatiated hunger to occupy land and exploit it in pursuit of capital.

The mother-daughter duo of Zoona and Duaa Khan Kundi, educators and designers, deploy fragile materials concerning each of their installations. Zoona harnesses light and consequent shadows to create a fictional habitat for flora and fauna that coexist in one plane. Her daughter Duaa reminisces about a water lily pond, reimagining it with paper and wires. The diaphanous installation looks as if it was levitated in the air owing to the transparency of the fish wire, alluding to the transience of both the materiality and the point of reference where it was taken from.

The exhibition has been curated inside Qazi Apex Grammar School, Lahore, in such a manner that it not only disrupts the originality and genuineness of the space — or its purpose — but also enhances its features as a place for imparting knowledge and laying the foundations for empathy among children which ultimately disseminates in communities.

Sousan Qadeer is an interdisciplinary artist and educator based in Lahore