Pioneering Perspectives

1998

Publisher: Ferozsons (PVT) Ltd.
Author: Niilofur Farrukh

1998

Publisher: Ferozsons (PVT) Ltd.
Author: Niilofur Farrukh

The women artists in the book are emblems of the new consciousness in Pakistani society. As independent thinkers and pioneers they have challenged the monolith of orthodoxy…

preface

Why Meher Afroz, Nahid and Sheherezade?
Why women artists?
These questions will come up again and again.
My answer is that to me, these artists are the emblems of the new consciousness in Pakistani society. As independent thinkers and pioneers they have challenged the monolith of orthodoxy that threatens to make patriarchy our tragic fate. Armed with courage and progressive ideals for almost a quarter of a century, in their disciplines they have become successors to literary avant garde and human rights activists like Faiz, Faraz, Habib Jalib, Kishwar Nahid, Fehmida Riaz and unsung pioneers like the Pathan writer Zaitoon Bano. They also carry the torch of a creative tradition that began as early as the sixteenth century by learned women writers like Gulbadan Bano, the famed author of Humayun Nama who wrote from inside the ‘harem.’ Her talent was recognized by her nephew Emperor Akbar who requested her to undertake the important biography of her brother, Humayun, the second ruler of the Mughal.

Sheherezade Alam

Meher Afroz, Colograph Print, 1982

Buraq Series by nahid raza

Sheherezade Alam, Vessel, circa 1980’s

Nahid Raza

Meher Afroz