Installation view of MANZAR: Art and Architecture from Pakistan 1940s to Today at the National Museum of Qatar, 2024
MANZAR: Art and Architecture from Pakistan 1940s to Today
National Museum of Qatar, Doha
November 1, 2024 – January 31, 2025
Group Exhibition
MANZAR: Art and Architecture from Pakistan 1940s to Today (2024), organized by the Future Art Mill Museum, was a landmark exhibition presenting over eight decades of Pakistan’s artistic and architectural heritage. The show brought together nearly 200 works—including painting, sculpture, video, installation, photography, and miniature—highlighting the diverse practices of artists from Pakistan and its diasporas.
Ayessha Quraishi’s works What Remains (2024) and What is, is as it is (2024) were included, reflecting on presence, impermanence, and enduring traces within personal and collective histories.
Curated by Caroline Hancock, Aurélien Lemonier, and Zarmeene Shah, MANZAR traced narratives of continuity and change, engaging with ecological concerns, cultural intersections, and knowledge exchange. Newly commissioned works, performances, and talks enriched the exhibition, creating a vital dialogue around evolving modernities and contemporary practices in and beyond Pakistan.
Manzar: Art and Architecture from Pakistan 1940s to Today, Installation view 2b, 2024-25, Right: What is, is as it is by Ayessha Quraishi. 2024
Manzar: Art and Architecture from Pakistan 1940s to Today, Installation view 8, 2024-25
Manzar: Art and Architecture from Pakistan 1940s to Today, Installation view 3, 2024-25
Manzar: Art and Architecture from Pakistan 1940s to Today, Installation view 1, What Remains (series of 10) by Ayessha Quraishi, 2024
Exhibition Photos: courtesy of Zarmeene Shah
A selection of approximately 200 works—including paintings, drawings, videos, and installations—presents multifaceted modernities and contemporary practices from Pakistan and its diasporas. Tracing divergent narratives, perspectives and histories, this exhibition catalogue focuses on the engagement of artists and architects with themes of continuity and discontinuity, knowledge sharing, resilience and ecological concerns.
Spanning over eight decades, Manzar traces how diverse personal and political languages have been forged in dialogue or disjunction with regional styles, international art movements and world histories. The interconnections of individuals and communities in the subcontinent and on a global scale are testament to the power of art to transcend divisions, whether imposed or desired.
Language: English
Edited By
Caroline Hancock, Aurélien Lemonier, Zarmeene Shah
Designed By
Kiran Ahmad https://www.kiranahmad.com/
Cover Image
Farida Batool, Nai Reesan Shehr Lahore Diyan, 2006, Lenticular print, Courtesy of the artist.
Contributors
Catherine Grenier, Caroline Hancock, Zarmeene Shah, Akbar Naqvi, Anooradha Iyer Siddiqi and Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar, Salima Hashmi, Iftikhar Dadi, Sean Anderson, Quddus Mirza, Murad Khan Mumtaz, Aurélien Lemonier, Hasan Uddin Khan, Naazish Ata-Ullah, Rasheed Araeen, Adnan Madani, Mariah Lookman and H. M. Naqvi, Nighat Said Khan, Karachi LaJamia, Fazal Rizvi, Noor Butt, Farah Al Sidiky.
PUBLISHING AND DISTRIBUTION
© 2024 Qatar Museums
ISBN: 9788836659623 (Silvana Editoriale)
ISBN: 9789927108952 (Qatar Museums)