Mariam Ibraaz is a Pakistani artist with a Masters degree in Art and Design Studies from Beaconhouse National University. Painting, Photography and Video installation are the main mediums used in her art practice. Her work usually depicts narratives that are familiar yet unfamiliar. She has shown at the group show “Exit Strategy” at National Art Gallery, PNCA in 2019. She has had a solo show at Rohtas Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan in 2011.
Internationally her work has been exhibited at Delhi, India for the group show “Resemble Reassemble” in 2010, at the Devi Art Foundation, Siddhartha Art Gallery in 2009, Khatmandu, Nepal among other shows. Her work is part of the book “The Eye Still Seeks”: Pakistani Contemporary Art, written by Salima Hashmi and published by Penguin India.
"Every woman is divine. Her every act, sacred. We know her with different names, devi, goddess, mother, friend. My paintings represent her with symbols of divinity from sacred text and mythology. Whether this divinity is shown through the striking colour of her skin, riding her spirit animal or drinking chai in shalwar kameez, she is the extraordinary living through the ordinary. She is all of us. We are all divine. My use of glitter represents the same concept, an ordinary material having such heavenly brilliance, just like the protagonists in my paintings. The imagery is inspired from a wide pool of visuals ranging from bold religious posters in temples and shrines to intricate Persian miniature paintings, once again merging the common with the uncommon," said Mariam Ibraaz.
Nashmia Haroon is a multi disciplinary visual artist, also the founder and creative head of Tagh'eer Lahore Creative Space since 2020. With degrees in Fine Art Painting (2004) and M.A honors in Visual Art (2012) from the National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan, her practice revolves around mainly in painting and photography. Since the past few years, she has concentrated on exploring abstraction through painting, and the influence of music on it. Her interest of work previously based more on the changing urban landscape of major cities, presenting images made through photography and alternative printmaking -moving more into abstraction in the language of the visual.
Haroon has shown works in Pakistan widely, and in India, Cambodia, UK, USA, and has regularly published works in local magazines like ArtNow Pakistan, Herald, and internationally published with Reuters, The Boston Globe.
"It's a dance of colour, form and mark making that dictates the artist to advance on the surface. Making non representational art is about trusting of the subconscious mind, to allow to flow through the body of the artist and onto the canvas. It may also be considered that the artist is looking for divine intervention at the moment of submission to the medium. The realisation of each of my works is imagined as a portal into seeking purity that is in harmony with all senses. Like a song, a certain balance within the structure of notes is need for it to sound right to the ear. This body of work is yet another attempt to arrive at this point of harmony and balance," said Nashmia Haroon.