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Lot 19

 

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Talha Rathore's oeuvre reflects the artist's deep associations with issues of identity, displacement and womanhood. Her works, with their almost sculptural qualities, incorporate different experiences from her life and weave together conversations about coexistence that extend beyond the surface, and beyond time and place. Trained at the Miniature Painting department of the National College of Arts in Lahore, her laborious technique is well... Talha Rathore's oeuvre reflects the artist's deep associations with issues of identity, displacement and womanhood. Her works, with their almost sculptural qualities, incorporate different experiences from her life and weave together conversations about coexistence that extend beyond the surface, and beyond time and place. Trained at the Miniature Painting department of the National College of Arts in Lahore, her laborious technique is well grounded in the ancient tradition of miniature painting, yet progressive given the themes and narratives it expresses.

In 1997, Rathore undertook a residency at the Sanskriti Akademi in New Delhi which resulted in a crucial shift in her practice. As Salima Hashmi explains, this time spent in Delhi "gave Rathore the opportunity to put her repertoire of traditional techniques under the microscope of an analytical process" (Between Worlds - and Other Matters, Bose Pacia exhibition catalogue, 2003, not paginated). The second major shift that impacted the artist's practice was her move to New York in 1998. Hashmi notes, "In understanding the complexities of the Diaspora, there occurred a deepening of content and the construction of a fresh formal vocabulary… The definition of the self, and of the 'other' in the diasporic community is contentious terrain. Observant and concerned, Rathore notes the sites of conflicts that make up the warp and weft of the lives around her. Separation and nostalgia are inevitable and she maps these with irony and waspish humor. There is a binary here, but a benign one according to Rathore. The opposing positions are set apart by color and ground" (Ibid.).

"These preferences are confirmed by the use of medium and technique. She links areas of opaque gouache with nuanced linear descriptions of patterned fragments and layered washes. The handcrafted wasli is laid bare at the edge, exposing the process of its making. The rough and ready edge bears no resemblance to its lineage of courtly tradition. In order to ensure that this subversion is noted, Rathore block prints the border, a nod to the textile connection" (Ibid.).

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