News
Tuesday, November 05, 2013
Evolving language, culture when ‘home away’
By Ahtesham Azhar
KARACHI: VM Art Gallery in collaboration with British Council is hosting an exhibition ‘Homelands’ featuring 21st century story of home, away, and all the places in between.
The term ‘Homeland’ is usually defined as the country of origin, the place of birth, the land of ancestors and the country of national identity. In many parts of the globe, when two people meet for the first time, they usually ask ‘Where are you from?’ The exhibition is about those who have moved to different places, having left their homes due to the economy, law and order situation or any other issues.
The exhibition is based on paintings, photographs and videos.
Featured Artist Nathan Coley presents structure of Camouflage Bayrakli Mosque, built during the Turkish occupation of Belgrade in the late sixteenth century. It was converted to a Catholic Church under Austrian rule and then reverted to a mosque. It was once one of over 200 mosques in Belgrade, but is today the only one in use after the Balkan war. It was damaged in 2004 as retaliation against the burning of Orthodox churches in Kosovo. The Camouflage Mosque reflects the chequered and contested history of the edifice.
Susan Hiller brought together sound recordings of 25 extinct or endangered languages from various anthropological sound archives. In the resultant video, an extract of each language is heard, with its status indicated along with translation substitutes in English, where necessary.
Another inspiring work is by Zineb Sedira, who presented how languages (mother tongue) of people changed due to migration. The work is in video form, in which mother, daughter and granddaughter are talking with each other in different languages. Mother tongue explores the nature of language as it is spoken by three generations of women in her family. The three women and three languages - Arabic, French and English - also represent the past and present relationship between three countries.
Angus Boulton presents an art piece from the series of the Homeless London 1995-2000. The picture shows how homeless people store their clothes behind pillars. The project documents the plight of more than a thousand homeless people in temporary shelters or ‘bashes’ across London on any given night. The policy changes in the benefits system for the unemployed had led to a sharp increase in the number of homeless between 1995-2000. The photographs, displayed on the walls of the gallery, focus on the environment and the traces of transient inhabitation instead of using people as the central subject.
The exhibition will continue till November 20.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk