8 Pakistani Visual Artists To Watch

Pakistan’s art scene might initially seem restrictive upon first glance, but after going through the works of several young, contemporary Pakistani artists, the silver lining is more apparent—being at such a nascent stage, there’s a lot of freedom to create new voices, spaces and styles. And for those who are both talented and dedicated, there’s more instantaneous upward mobility than in art worlds that are more developed.

““Pakistan is a good place to be for an artist,” comic book artist Babrus Khan (aka Babman) says. “Everything is just starting here. If you’re good at what you do, you get a lot of appreciation, while abroad, the industry is very saturated. With all the recognition comes responsibility, and it might feel burdening at times.. I realized that people actually look up to me and that I have to be more responsible about what I say and do.”

Events like the first-ever ‘Red Bull Canvas Cooler’ exhibition which took place in Lahore in 2016 have been a shot in the arm for the art space, as it brought together 12 individuals of Pakistan’s art world — many of whom are featured in our piece — to treat coolers as canvases, and create something interesting in a span of two weeks.

From graphic novels to design that embodies social responsibility, we’ve put together a compilation of artists that are as curious about as they are intriguing to the outside prisms that the world is viewing them through.

I. Shehzil Malik

A designer with an interest in user experience design, Shehzil Malik is deeply involved in the role design has to play in creating social change. She is probably best-known for her depiction of harassment that women face in public in Pakistan, with her sketches depicting how pervasive the male gaze can be as it scrutinises a woman’s appearance.

“I would walk outside every day and go to my park and it was just getting very uncomfortable to be in that public space. And this image was basically exactly how I was feeling at the time. I would worry about what I was looking like, I was worrying about other people and I was like — I don’t know if others are realizing the impact they are having on my internal situation, just going for a walk,” she explains.

Shehzil does a lot of consultancy work with nonprofits and collaborative projects, in addition to which she is a part of the International Development Innovation Network (IDIN) and is visiting faculty at Beaconhouse National University’s School of Visual Arts & Design.

“I continue to devise projects around the ideas of leveraging art and technology to raise questions around identity and history, with a storytelling approach,” she says. “There is so much that can be done to make the stories we tell, the public spaces we interact with, and the time we take in everyday activities a more joyful experience!”

She’s also done some pretty cool artwork for Patari Aslis album, which featured ‘six of the most talented and exciting young musicians around and funded them to create the music that they want to create on their own terms, without any creative dictation’.

HG loves: Her passion projects combine design with social responsibility, brimming with strong messages and a vibrant personality.

[Follow Shehzil Malik on Facebook, Instagram & Behance.]

II. Rahema Alem

Graphic designer Rahema Alem (aka Butterflies are cockroaches with wings) works with pixel art, motion graphics, illustrations and logos to create an abstract look that is alive with dimension.

Her ‘game art’ perspective sheds new light altogether on the city of Lahore as we know it, in her pixel art series based on scenes from the city that evoke nostalgia.

She’s also created the logo for Karachi-based experimental dance label Forever South, whom we mentioned in our round-up of Pakistani musicians to check out.

HG loves: The retro look many of her pixel artwork has, as well as the more abstract illustrations she’s worked on in monochrome; the range of her work is refreshing to pore over.

[Follow Rahema Alem on Instagram & Tumblr]

III. Samya Arif

Karachi-based Samya Arif works in a variety of media, and since graduating from the Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture in 2010, has evolved towards visual art and illustration from a graphic design background, widely pertaining to album cover art and varied illustration work. While creating artworks for various music acts, she has also been a part of the electronic music collective, Forever South, as artist, designer and DJ.

Having been featured in publications like Pitchfork, FADER and New York Times, Samya’s work has been described as having ‘a taste for escape’ running through it. ‘A fantastical element to Arif’s work, forms and lines that recall the psychedelic rock posters of the ‘60s and ‘70s yet relocated in a space-age setting.’ (The FADER, 2014)

“In a way, psychedelic culture is very close to Pakistan’s culture,” she says in an NYT interview. “We have a lot of colour, in our patterns, in our textiles, our monuments, so the bridge is there for me to connect both things. As a child, I saw a film about hippies in America and I don’t think I ever got over it. I often think about the Hippie Trail, and how so many hippies traveled all the way to Pakistan.”

Samya has also gained much respect for having worked on various international projects, such as her collaboration with the Mumbai-based Taxi Fabric, her designs for which were featured in the Coldplay’s ‘Hymn for the Weekend’ video; besides which, she has also worked on editorial illustrations for the London-based One Beat Zines collective, and Pakistan’s Herald magazine.

On whether it is tough to find opportunities as a designer in Pakistan, she says, “Historically yes, although the good thing is that things are picking up. And in a way I’m grateful to be here... In Pakistan, the market for it is still new. People are just realising that, Hey, being a D J. or being an illustrator can be a job. An awakening is taking place, and the opportunities are really ripe.”

HG loves: Her active involvement in the Pakistani music space, having worked on the album artwork of Pakistani artists like Toll Crane, Slow Spin, TMPST, Alien Panda Jury, Mo Yo, Noahs Heark and Tree House, as well as her editorial illustrations, some of which are more provocative as they address issues like religious terrorism. She also designed a record sleeve for Tame Impala, which was exhibited in 2016 in London alongside the likes of Ai Weiwei, Yoko Ono, David Shrigley, Anish Kapoor, and the inimitable Polly Nor, to name a few. We were happy to hear about the Bombay connection with Taxi Fabric, as well!

[Follow Samya Arif on Facebook and Instagram]

IV. Babrus Khan

Babrus Khan or ‘Babman’ is Pakistan’s youngest art director, an illustrator and a comic book artist; very much a self-made man, he grew up drawing Ninja Turtles or panels from the comic books he loved at the time. “People always told me my drawings were better than most,” he muses. “When I finished college, I had to look around for work due to some family conditions. I use to learn 3D Studio Max at that time via the internet, so I landed a small job as an animator. This one time I was asked to watch over a rendering process overnight at work, and I was drawing to kill time, when my boss from then saw what I had drawn. That’s when he told me I had skill, and moved me to the art direction department the next day.”

Babman is certain that the ‘art life’ chose him, and pinpoints line art as his forte; on the evolution of his distinct style of art, he recalls that it was when he was tasked with designing a character for a product that he realised how much he enjoyed the process. “I then wanted to draw my own characters so I started working on personal projects, which helped me understand and study characters,” he explains. “At one point, I realized that all of my characters are quite dark and similar to my other works, so I wanted to change that, and I ended up experimenting with art styles and eventually developing something of a signature style. That’s when people started pointing at my work, saying, “This artwork looks like something Babrus would do, it’s his style.”

HG loves: Babman’s love for whacky sci-fi themes, manga and comics and his interest in spreading this interest in Pakistan. We also really respect his personal journey and tenacity, having weathered some tough circumstances while never wavering from pursuing his inclinations towards art.

[Follow The Babman on Facebook, Instagram and Behance.]

V. Salman Sajun

Describing himself as an ‘illusionist, conjurer and artist’, Montreal-based filmmaker Salman Sajun lives from frame to frame. A director specialising in blending stop motion and live action to bring the inanimate to life, he says his work is ‘inspired by the ability to use raw, physical objects to tell a story’. He achieves all his visual effects in camera, and hopes to relay an honest and real experience informed by a global perspective and background and in-depth training in Concept Art in Toronto.

As a director he has created dozens of commercials and short films for clients all around the world, including Google, Universal Studios, Pearson and En Mass; he was sponsored in 2013 by Kessler Crane to be one of their official shooters as well.

On what inspires him, he elaborates, “I’m easily inspired! I am surrounded by so much creative energy that it’s hard not to be constantly motivated. The city I live in plays a big part; your environment surely influences you and currently, Montreal has been an awesome inspiration. I have a list of blogs and websites that I follow on a daily basis to help keep ideas flowing and to see what my favorite directors/ filmmakers/ designers and the community, in general, is up to.

“I also have an inspiration board that I keep up to date. I am in the process of riffling through archived images that I have collected over the years, and am compiling them to one Pinterest board. It’s a mash up of images that range from spaces, installations, creations and objects.”

HG loves: That whether it’s his empirical homage to tennis, or a tribute to the sacred ritual of a midnight snack, Salman’s unique eye for visual storytelling and whimsical approach gives any project he works on a fresh perspective.

[Follow Salman Sajun on Facebook & Instagram.]

VI. Shumyle Haider

An Illustrator and a Designer in the making, Shumyle Haider is currently studying at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, where he ‘spends most of his time struggling to meet his deadlines because he gets distracted too easily’.

He’s deeply involved in the local design scene, and ponders about the directions it can and can’t take in the future. Working for the love of design, a quick glance at his Behance page will reveal his experiments with illustrations and typography, which he seems to have a certain flair for.

HG loves: His work for projects like ‘Weekend with Manto’, which he did with the organisation Kuch Jaan Lo!, working towards sensitising the Pakistani youth towards their cultural heritage through literary events. His personal projects like ‘Tarots’ are also quite intriguing.

[Follow Shumyle Haider on Facebook & Instagram]

VII. Zain Naqvi

Graphic novelist and designer Zain Naqvi is who we have to thank for producing what is possibly Pakistan’s first graphic novel, titled ‘Sparrow at Heart’, a tribute to the late Shakir Ali, an introducer of modern art to Pakistan. Attractively produced, with lettering in parts that Zain admits might have been influenced by, to an extent, by Dave McKean’s work in Arkham Asylum and Todd Klein’s lettering in Sandman, the graphic novel was launched at Lahore Literary Festival 2016 by Messy Squares, a publication he has co-founded, with a focus on graphic novels and comics produced locally in Pakistan.

Zain was also involved in curating the 12 upcoming artists who took part in the Red Bull Canvas Cooler, in which they used coolers as their canvas.

This Lahore-based artist has a Bachelor’s Degree from Pakistan’s premier art school National College of Arts, and has worked with multiple startups and corporate clients; he is also currently visiting faculty at Beaconhouse National University, and serves as Art Director at Treble.

HG loves: His pop culture references, investigative approach to storytelling and evident love for the form of the graphic novel; we look forward to the release of the second one he is currently working on.

[Follow Zain Naqvi on Facebook & Instagram.]

VIII. Ayesha Sohail

Ayesha Sohail is a visual communication design student at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, who has been drawing since she was three. “I have a passion for illustration and print and am crazy to learn more,” she explains earnestly. “I love lettering.”

She was also one of the artists who was a part of Red Bull Canvas Cooler, with her own cooler gaining inspiration from Urdu metaphors such as ‘Chor ki daarri mein tinka’ (translating loosely into ‘the guilty needs no accuser’) or ‘Aasman se gira, khajoor mein atka’ (‘Out of the fire, and into the frying pan.’) to derive abstract interpretations of it in three stages of life: the urban life, the jungle life and the marine life.

HG loves: Her incorporation of popular idioms into her art, a nod to the rich cultural heritage she draws from.