Arts

New Documentary Forms: Tate Modern

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 10:53:38 +0000

By Zehra Naqvi

'With photography, however we encounter something new and strange: in Hill's Newhaven fishwife, her eyes cast down in such indolent seductive modesty, there remains something that goes beyond testimony to the photographer's art, something that cannot be silenced, that fills you with an unruly desire to know what her name was, the woman who was alive there, who even now is still real and will never consent to be wholly absorbed in art.' -Walter Benjamin.

Review: The Home Coming

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 20:25:22 +0000

By Shiroma Silva

It’s bleak, it’s double edged, tight, wry and very witty. Yes it’s Harold Pinter, the grand auteur of British theatre, this time played by the Royal Shakespeare Company at its home in Stratford upon Avon. Directed by David Farr, Pinter’s play remains engaging and as ever watchable.

Macbeth: review

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:41:57 +0000

By Shiroma Silva

“Fair is foul and foul is fair: hover through the fog and filthy air” – ominous utterances usually spat out through the mouths of evil women instead emerge from the lips of babes. Because in Michael Boyd’s new production of the doomed play, the vile trio is not played by the conventional witches, but by angelic looking Victorian chimney sweep children who descend onto stage on harnesses to deliver their eerie message. It’s all part of Boyd’s brave staging in the first production on the RST’s newly transformed stage in Stratford, where an original use of set and 3 dimensional space breathes life into a well-worn play, adding an intrigue to this sombre affair that keeps the audience onside.

The Unseen War – Exhibition on Drone Strikes in Pakistan

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:01:58 +0000

By Rubia

An exhibition recently opened in London showing the impact that drone attacks are having on Pakistan. Noor Behram is a journalist from Waziristan who has been documenting the aftermath of drone attacks for the past three years. Behram set about collecting images of children and women injured or killed by drone strikes.

Mini-reviews of books I’ve read recently

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:15:25 +0000

By Ahsan Butt

Reviews of stuff I’ve read recently, in alphabetical order according to authors. As always, absolutely no poli sci books; this is stuff I read on the bus and subway and as such needs to be far away from the stuff I have to read.

Haal: story of 1980s Pakistan

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:48:14 +0000

By Assad Zulfiqar

Set in 1980's Pakistan during the dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq, Haal is a film about how the junta used Islamism as a tool to suppress the media and suffocate the arts. Told through the eyes of a journalist (Omar) and a Kathak dancer (Mehr), the film weaves the story of how Pakistan became a slave to the rightwing Islamist mindset.

M.F Husain: A Man of Renaissance

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:03:58 +0000

By Zehra Naqvi

Fearless strokes of vibrant colors and shapes dominate the canvas existing right on the border of beauty and ugliness; Maqbool Fida Husain was a master at expressing and embracing duality. With his free flowing white hair and bare feet he was an expression of simplicity despite being one of the highest earning painters in India.

Celebrating Faiz in London

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 14:42:15 +0000

By Zehra Naqvi

In these politically turbulent times when every attempt at speaking freely comes with a feeling of dread, a tinge of fear for ones own wellbeing Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poem Bol stands as a tribute to expression. Faiz expressed himself with fearless abandon, in person he was humble and soft spoken but in ink his words were insightful and brutally honest which even resulted in his imprisonment. His less political works are full of simple but powerful imagery, encapsulating feelings of love and loss.

Let Art Be

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:54:58 +0000

By Zehra Naqvi

Artists exist on borders, continuously striving to extend them or push them, crossing them to see what the view looks like from the other side. If nothing else they question them. Some going as far as Marcus Harvey depicting a collage of Myra Hindley, a hated figure in Britain, while some like Anish Kapoor prefer a much more abstract way of expressing themselves. But Muslims seem to have placed a restriction on the representation of Islam that prevents people, or more specifically artists to explore and question without inhibition.

A Muslim, A Christian, A Buddhist, An Atheist and...A Camera

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 13:52:35 +0000

By MYH

ReFocus is a campaign by the Muslim Youth Helpline providing young people with the opportunity to explore and express their identity through photography. The campaign gathered together a group of 15-20 year olds from a variety of different faiths and backgrounds from Islington in London. The young people of Muslim, Buddhist, Christian and Atheist beliefs were trained in the art of photography through a series of workshops by professional photographers developing their creative camera skills. The participants will now be given a platform to showcase their work at an exhibition at the Seven Dials Club in Covent Garden this Saturday 4^th June at 4pm.