Tampered Surface - Six Artists from Pakistan, (Co-curated by Alnoor Mitha)

Tampered Surface: New Art From Pakistan
An exhibition of sculpture, painting, printmaking, photography and mixed media
Liaqat Ali
Akram Dost Baloch
Iftikhar Dadi
Sumaya Durrani
Durriya Kazi
Samina Mansuri

2 September - 28 October 1995
Huddersfield Art Gallery (and touring)

The title Tampered Surface alludes to both a literal and metaphorical interpretation of the artists’ ideas. In literal terms, the artists, much like any others, tamper or manipulate the surface with which they work. Samina Mansuri’s paintings are ‘obsessively worked surfaces’ whilst Akram Dost Baloch’s engravings and paintings on board erase or even obscure detail to create symbols and anonymity rather than specific events.

Metaphorically, the title relates to the recent tendency for the work of artists from the Asian sub-continent, Africa or South America, to be exoticised and given a subservient role in relation to Western art practices.  Tampered Surface is not a survey show. The artists in the exhibition are not representative of a ‘movement’ in Pakistani art.

Therefore, Tampered Surface aims to transgress this ‘surface’ presentation by enabling a group of artists to show larger examples of their work. The artists address a range of complex issues relating to the representation of women in art, popular culture, class, religion and the politics of their everyday lives. All the artists were invited to produce new works for the exhibition, and in some cases, they have elected to show older work alongside new work.

Text from exhibition catalogue Introduction by Alnoor Mitha and Richard Hylton

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