Dust particles suspended in air become visible in the presence of light. What does the eye see -- the object or the light? Neither exists without the other. She calls this installation ‘The Paradise of Paradox’. An acrylic box contains water and has a source of light behind it. The light creates the illusion of there being two layers of water with vacuum in between both. One finds one’s self wondering which layer is real and which one isn’t. She calls this one ‘Wave II’.

As the conversation about her work progresses over cups of coffee at a popular coffee shop in Lahore, she shares a most unique interest -- quantum physics. What’s even more intriguing is the fact that given her work, this interest doesn’t seem to be the least bit out of sync. Employing simple yet unique analogies to approach questions of perception and reality -- something that scientists attempt to explain as well --artist, Iqra Tanveer has managed to create ripples and earn recognition.

When asked where she gets her inspiration from, she replies that she never "sits, thinks and works" and considers putting in conscious effort to create art "too unnatural". She draws inspiration from events in her daily life -- travelling, literature and conversations. Waiting at airports, shifting from one city to another, from one country to another, travelling to the mountains and simply interacting with those around her seems to be sufficient food for thought.

As she shares more of her work, the idea of examining the fluidity of reality amidst changing standpoints demonstrates itself as a running theme. A photograph of the sea shore juxtaposed several times, named ‘Ascending Horizon’ calls into question the existence of things as viewed in the past given that the horizon adjusts to eye level as you continue to travel to greater heights. Another one of clouds as they morph into different forms with the passage of time leaves you wondering about the very nature of time -- the past, present and the future.

"A lot of my works are related to existential texts -- understanding reality, existence and the reason of existence. To a certain level, it becomes very spiritual also but I don’t like calling it spiritual because I feel that in today’s context, the word has taken a very superficial meaning. I like to be more open in terms of interpreting the work", she explains.

Although she started studying art formally during her O’Levels, the decision to pursue it as a career was made when she visited the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi. Being exposed to an environment where creative people were working freely on interesting subjects was what motivated her to enroll in the Bachelors in Fine Arts programme at the Karachi University in 2007 where she was awarded the Rangoonwala Arts Trust Grant for her graduation thesis. After that, she did a post-graduate diploma in Art Education from Beaconhouse National University (BNU) Lahore in 2009. She has served as a lecturer at the Department of Visual Studies, at BNU from 2008-2014. She has had several solo and group exhibitions in different parts of the world in some prestigious galleries and museums.

"I don’t have a very complicated journey in terms of art", she laughs. "Sometimes people discover their calling much later; sometimes they discover it right on time. I guess I was right on time, I mean I joined an art school and took the traditional route to becoming an artist."

Tanveer has a pleasant demeanour and talks about her work with great enthusiasm. She has been identified by art critic, Quddus Mirza, as an upcoming artist to watch out for. A winner of the III Moscow International Biennale for Young Art (special mention award), she has now been selected for the Residency programme at the prestigious Rice Academy in Amsterdam -- an experience that she is looking forward to. Her husband, Ehsan Ul Haq, is an artist as well and was selected for the same residency. In response to a question about influencing each other’s work, Tanveer says that she and her husband have completely different bodies of work even though at some level the crux of their ideas is similar.

Though not dismissive of self-taught artists, she stresses the need for art education. Tanveer strongly feels that art education in totality is an important subject matter even in schools and not just in art schools. It is essential to understanding how societies have been built over the years all around the world, she says. She goes on to stress the importance of art education to get a richer and more holistic view of the world around us.

"When you separate that while learning, for example, history at school you take a very big chunk of what history is really about out of it. That is what I think academia does -- it  informs you and gives you knowledge, it doesn’t direct you to be a certain kind of artist. It never does. It only informs you about what has been happening and what has been done and then you are the one that channelises it all to express whatever concerns you have. So academia is very important in that sense unless you’re somebody who has always been really interested in art and you’ve been reading on your own and practicing and seeing works. For younger people who are planning to do art, professional training becomes more important because there isn’t enough exposure to art," she maintains.

She adds that Pakistan needs to have more galleries or museums for ordinary people to go to on a day-to-day basis, see and experience art. It still isn’t a common practice, she says.

Nevertheless, Tanveer believes the future of contemporary art in Pakistan is bright. She remarks that there have been positive developments in the last few decades where artists have really changed the landscape of art in Pakistan -- the contributions of artists like Rashid Rana who have managed to enrich the art debate in addition to bringing international attention to Pakistan, to her seem to be a strong foundation for development of art in Pakistan. The works of the likes of Risham Syed and Mohammad Ali Talpur to her are exceptional and infuse hope.

"With time, I hope things will improve further. Both Art and artists now are becoming more and more global. It’s not about Lahore or Karachi or even the region. If I speak of an artist from Pakistan, I would put him next to any artist from the world. Also, I don’t believe in art being associated with a region. I think we’ve all grown out of that," she asserts.

It is Tanveer’s stay in the Netherlands that really widened her horizon as she saw a lot of art that would be considered eccentric and unconventional. Yet, she is careful not to underappreciate traditional works like egg tempera paintings. It is all about what strikes the viewer -- the conceptual premise of a work and the way it is communicated. She understands that ideas are often repeated with time but that this is what makes them all the more interesting -- thesame idea can take on twenty different routes to reach the viewer.

"The interesting thing in today’s time is that there is nothing in art that hasn’t been done. Nothing is original in today’s time, frankly. I think this is the age of improvisation. Ideas are only nourished in the way [they are expressed] by changing context and time. Art takes different shapes throughout history, developing with history. Today if someone says this is art and this isn’t, I would not believe it."

She ends the conversation with a very astute but thought-provoking observation: "Anything and everything can be art. It’s a matter of who is calling it art."