"...I think experience, or the idea of veiling and
revealing here, becomes important because a lot of my work
is deeply personal."
"The goddess image is something which is very familiar
to media. It's this image with several hands, and yet it's
not a particular goddess, because I was not interested in
that; I was interested in coming up with a definition that
could occupy the entirety of that experience as such, and
the dilemmas of it."
"...One is involved with coming to America and dealing
with this post-colonial dialogue, and this plurality of
experience, and this multicultural dimension to things and
globalization—and it is not a very foreign phenomenon.
It happened in history. So in that sense, it's how cycles
come to an end."
I'm noticing the way in which
images are revealed and concealed by the layers of tissue
paper in your installation
work. What does the layering refer to, and what is your intention
in using it?
SIKANDER:
At some level, the idea of layering
here through painting on the wall and covering it up with
tissue, with paper, and then putting more drawings in front
of it - that kind of space, or that experience of space through
those layers, suggests a certain sense of meaning being either
manipulated or meaning being constructed, or that there is
more to understand than a simplistic reading of something.
So it does allude to a lot of meaning which becomes significant
culturally. And I think experience, or the idea of veiling
and revealing here, becomes important because a lot of my
work is deeply personal. And it also takes a lot of liberty
through personal experiences. It kind of takes a jump-start
from there; whether at a humorous level or at a level where
one intends to subvert something, it takes on and challenges
how people read work, or how people read different cultures,
or one's own sort of reaction to those experiences. And sort
in the quest of developing a vocabulary, I'm very interested
in personal space and the cultural space. And since I'm dealing
with such an image-oriented genre
of work, a lot of the vocabulary in the miniature painting
basically deals with mythology
and refers to a particular period of painting: the court paintings
during Mogul patronage. It refers to a lot of the aspects
of that time. And then through Hindu mythology it refers to
a lot of the Hindu religion.
And so the imageries that those paintings occupy is like looking
at them from a very objective space, and then taking elements
from the Hindu experience and putting them in the experience
of the Mogul, which is Muslim patronage, but it's not necessarily
a Muslim school of painting. So the idea since there is not
a very solid discourse, definitely not a very critical one
that exists on the history of miniature painting, it's open
for interpretation. And it's also defined in a very descriptive
chronological way, so the importance of looking at it critically
has been reduced. So one just looks at it and reads it in
a simplistic fashion. All of those elements I think are so
ripe to then play with. And when I came to the U.S. I was
so aware of having this neutral space where I could look into
and understand more of the Hindu schools of painting.
Growing up in Pakistan, I didn't have much access to miniature
painting to begin with because of a lack of books and resources
and libraries and all of that. And also because of this separation
of India, Pakistan and every day's identity
related to it, one grew up kind of fascinated with the other.
And I was very into Hindu mythology, but when I used the goddess
it's not a particular goddess that I'm using or referring
to. It's the idea of the goddess, the goddess being just the
opposite of the Muslim belief, where idol worshipping is something
which is blasphemous. So this idea of the god and goddesses
is a foreign aspect. And within a visual vocabulary, when
one is looking at things and dealing with this idea of the
image, then, as an artist, how do you separate the many layers?
How are the Pakistanis trying to define that this art is ours
and this art isn't? And so whatever came under Muslim patronage
suddenly became Pakistani heritage. All of these aspects are
so intertwined with the social-political identities being
defined.
And the relation to Urdu literature plays a very significant
part here, because of the whole Muslim identity during British
occupancy. When the idea of a separate homeland for Muslims
was being defined, Urdu literature became the main form of
expression where these political ideas were played out. As
a result of it, the poetry became revolutionary and was accessible
to the masses. That aspect is also related to this way of
work, where it's something with no ownership, something experienced.
When people come in, the viewer can experience it, but doesn't
necessarily have to know where it's coming from. And in the
same sense, the goddess becomes not important, whether it's
Kali or Durga; it's the idea of it, the allusion to the opposition
of the veil. So I'm stripping the identity of the goddess
and putting the veil on its head. One is dealing with very
two extremes of image. The goddess image is something which
is very familiar to media. It's this image with several hands,
and yet it's not a particular goddess, because I was not interested
in that; I was interested in coming up with a definition that
could occupy the entirety of that experience as such, and
the dilemmas of it. Again it's about raising issues about
stereotypes
with the veil and the goddess and the interplay of both. And
yet the goddess as such becomes a problematic issue, and the
veil also, because it's not like the oppression, or the subversion.
So in that sense, the veiling and revealing becomes the cause
and effect for me, because I'm also investigating these things
as I grow as an artist.
But these are very loaded issues to take on because the minute
you bring the word 'veil' into the equation, it connects you
to a Muslim identity, or a woman's identity. And that was
the last thing on my mind, because it's not my experience.
I never wore one. I have a very hard time relating to that
notion, and I cannot speak on behalf of women who either wear
a veil or choose to wear one. Culturally, it's not my experience
of having grown up in Pakistan, but the minute you leave that
country and you come here, it became such a significant topic
of discussion that at one level I let it come into my work,
and at another level I was having a hard time getting rid
of it. And that aspect is what interests me. For me, I want
to take on that challenge. And so it's like veiling and revealing.
There's always two sides to a story.
ART:21:
If the goddess isn't a specific
Hindu figure, then what does she represent to you? What role
does she serve in the work?
SIKANDER:
The reference to the goddess,
I think, for me, I am interested in the multidimensions of
the female identity. The goddess could be a figure of power.
It refers to empowerment definitely. And yet there is a certain
sort of dark side to it too, where there is reference to destruction.
And whether it's destruction of evil or good is left in the
background. But here again, if the figure of the goddess is
about this idea - a figure of power, the veil, when it comes
on its head, does that mean that the veil is disempowering
the figure? The idea of the veil is something that isn't revealing,
so do not underestimate what's behind the veil either. So
the minute I started mixing up these different traditions
and meanings, it only led to a marriage of more meanings.
At the same time, the sort of intimacy of the difference too.
I became more and more interested in (that) again; the dialogue
was not about East and West, it was more about East and East.
For me, I was interested in understanding Hindu-Muslim aesthetics,
but at the same time a vocabulary which is very hybrid in
its origins. Also, looking at Akbar's period, one of the Mogul
emperors in the 16th century, the art and the painting and
the political discourse of his experience was so hybrid, and
he recognized all of it, that notion of a plural India, when
you look at the brilliance with which he has generated art
forms and language and literature. Now, one is involved with
coming to America and dealing with this post-colonial
dialogue, and this plurality of experience, and this multicultural
dimension to things and globalization - and it is not a very
foreign phenomenon. It happened in history. So in that sense,
it's how cycles come to an end. It's sort of the idea of spirituality
right there, one kind of recognizes it. And so, for me, there's
no separation; you can't separate the many layers of Hindu-Muslim
experience, to say this is Pakistani or this is Indian or
this is Muslim or this is Hindu. All of those aspects played
a part, and they're like layers of meaning over layers of
time. And there's no separation there. So part of it was actually
paying homage to that notion, but in the process, almost subverting
it, too.
