Festival of Muslim Cultures:
UK 2006
Festival of Muslim Cultures | UK 2006 Print Project | exhibitions | contemporary pakistani printmakers | Laila Rahman
Laila Rahman
Born in Lahore in 1966, Laila Rahman attended St Martins College of Art and Design and later with a scholarship from the British Council in Pakistan achieved a First Class Masters Degree in Printmaking from Slade School of Fine Art in London. She is currently a tutor at Lahore College of Arts and Sciences and is working towards a series of Illustrations and designs for the book “Punjabi and Other Folk Tales” for Simorgh Publications, Lahore. She has exhibited her work in group exhibitions across Pakistan, India, USA and Europe.
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Approaching Chaos and the unbound forces of Nature are ranged in opposition to human beings. Our world, outwardly symmetrical, is symbolized by two perfect shapes: the ‘magic square’ and the ‘enchanted circle’ are undergoing a change; once entered or meddled with, unforeseen changes will occur. Insidious and therefore more frightening is that the organic natural forms encroach steadily and will soon consume the human shapes, which by contrast are powerless and weak.
Boundaries have been breached and nothing will ever be the same again - an apocalyptic future awaits us.
The disc of the moon continually casts its spell on the scenes around it. It is essentially female in nature and form. It sits as a fitting counterpart on its male companion, the square. This balance is what evades us today. The human shapes are deliberately androgynous in structure, with no individual markings or features left to them. Above all they are supine, doomed to their fate.
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