Shalalae Jamil was born in Karachi, Pakistan in 1978. Educated at Bennington College (BFA 2001) and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, (MFA 2006) she has since taught, exhibited, and curated work in Pakistan, the U.S., and the U.K.
Using photography, video, installation, and elements of performance, her work targets the home as a region consumed by the collisions between religion, tradition and modernity.
Her work is in various private collections in India including the Devi Art Foundation.
'I Got the Power 1 & 2' come out of such a process, juxtaposing mundane and contentious images of contemporary life in the context of Pakistan and the South Asian Diaspora. The works rely on associations made as a result of the sensuous immediacy and proximity of each image to the next. Avoiding a clear-cut narrative, they have much to say about changing relationships; between photographer and subject, self and the body, power and passivity.
On ' Gift – What Nadir Gave ' Shalalae explains, is a series of five images taken of a small religious paperback unexpectedly presented to me by an old lover in Pakistan. It is the first in a body of work that playfully examines the nature, construction, dissemination and reception of religious paraphernalia.
The work and its title set up two distinct narratives. The first is straightforward, apparent in the content of the book while the second relies on personal history. The anecdotal aspect of the title allows one to know the journey of the unlikely gift, referencing the cultural context within which it was produced and shared.
The text, simultaneously fragmented and fully knowable, comes across as absurd within the framework of the title. This further calls into question the general significance of such prayers and how they relate to the aspirations and fears of man.
These images bring notions of 'Faith' to the forefront for a viewer – what they are and what they do in the world as images of an object depends entirely upon how one may perceive religious texts in general.
Trained as a sculptor, Ruby Chishti works with the detritus of daily life: straw, cotton wool, plastic bags, fabric and old newspapers. Her often-limp figures of crows, buffaloes and humans are stuffed, cast and stitched to create narratives of dignified pathos and gentle sadness.
In that context, Ruby Chishti's works depicting neatly fabricated crows that appeared solemnly solid bothered the viewer at an unconscious level. Simultaneously, birds' dark bodies -- fabricated with junk materials consisting of old clothes and metal wires and scattered around the gallery -- suggested a sense of gloom usually associated with crows, the unwanted creatures. The artist has used these birds as they are traditionally used -- signs of guests and important news. This concept still prevails amongst the masses, especially their folk songs and proverbs.
Ruby received her BFA from the National College of Arts in Lahore, and currently lives and works in California. Her recent international exhibitions include Moving Ahead at the National Art Gallery, Islamabad; Feats of Clay at the Lincoln Arts & Cultural Foundation in California; Threads, Dreams, Desires at Harris Museum in Preston (UK); Sangam at the Urbis, Manchester. Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Childhood, London; the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; the Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi and the Maritime Museum, Karachi.
Details:
Shalalae Jamil
I Got The Power 2
Triptych
Digital Print
12 x 54 inches
Edition 1 of 3
2009
Shalalae Jamil
I Got The Power 2
Triptych
Digital Print
12 x 72 inches
Edition 1 of 3
2009
Shalalae Jamil
'Gift – What Nadir Gave'
5 Digital Prints on Archival Paper
9.5 x 32.5 inches
Edition 1 of 3
2010
Ruby Chishti
Crows
Fabric, straw, dried grass, steel and thread.
40cm x 55cm x 15cm approx
2010
I hope you enjoy the works, please let me know should you have any questions or problems with the images.
I look forward to hearing back from you.
Regards,
Renuka
Director
The Guild Art Gallery
45 west 21st street
suite # 39
New York, NY 10010
212 229 2110
201 218 5885
www.theguildny.com
www.guildindia.com
Disclaimer: All intellectual property rights in and to the images of the artworks depicted in this email or its attachments are reserved by the Artist(s).
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