WHEN
PEOPLE SAID WAH! INSTEAD OF WOW!
Do you remember words like gapastic, loafer, chughad. ahmaq, ullu ka
patha, char sau bees or 420? People
described their spouses as begum or ghar wali instead of meri wife, and meray shohar instead of meray
husband. Language does not simply convey information, but carries social
identities, cultural values, moral norms and self-awareness.
So much gets lost in the urge to be urbane,
that the present is only linked to an imagined future rather than also a carrying forward of
historical cultural practices. In this confusion, people clap during qawwalis
and classical music concerts as the etiquette of appreciation becomes obscured.
Mushairas are the last bastion of Wah! The phrases for expressing
appreciation or daad dena of a couplet are 'wah, wah', 'bahut khoob', 'sub'haan-Allah', 'kamaal kar diya, Sahib', ‘Sahib,
zaraa misra tau uthaaiye!’
I remember going many years ago to the
poet, Tanvir Anjum’s book launch at
Fehmida Riaz’s publishing house, Waadah. Ten or fifteen people, all friends,
sat around a long table. After the social niceties were over, the official
business of the day began. Tanvir read out some of her poems, and various
critiques were given, some harsh, and a number of questions were posed. After
the formalities were over, everyone reverted to socializing again.
It was my first such experience. It
immediately struck me how different it was from the opening of an art
exhibition, where the artist anxiously looks at facial expressions and eavesdrops
on comments to get some indication of whether the work met with approval or
not. Occasionally artists such as Naiza Khan and Samina Mansuri would invite
art students to comment on their work on one of the days after the private
view. However it is rare to hear questions or comments directed to the
artist. Instead a comments book is
placed for visitors. Most artists have to wait for the critic’s review that
follows in the press.
Are visual artists more vulnerable to
critique than poets? Is it the nature of art that it is meant to be silently
absorbed and appreciated? There is also of course the matter of sale of art
works. There is an unspoken etiquette at private views to not express negative
comments in case it adversely affects a potential buyer of the work.
In the past when art followed prescribed
rules, there was more immediate and vocal appreciation or criticism. It was
customary for the Mughal Emperor to present robes of honour or jewellery in
appreciation to an artist, musician dancer, whose skills were appreciated, and
equally, one presumes, to dismiss an artist who displeased. In1863, the artists who came to be known as Impressionists
were disbarred from exhibiting by the jury of the official Paris Salon.
Napoleon III intervened arranging their work to be exhibited in another
building known to history as the Salon des Refusés, so the public could be the
judge of them.
When Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase was exhibited in
New York in 1913, it was very publically derided with cartoons and parodies and
was called "an explosion in a shingle factory," by the art critic of the New York Times.
As art became more experimental, more
conceptual, it also became more inaccessible to general visitors. Even art
critics made great efforts to develop terminologies to explain the intention of
the artist rather than present a personal opinion.
The
general visitor can feel daunted by the cultivated mystique of the art gallery
and hesitates to comment or ask questions for fear of appearing foolish.
When the visitor can see the art work being
made, or be present at an art performance, they are able to respond emotionally
rather than only intellectually, something most people are more familiar with
in performance based art such as theatre, dance, music or poetry. This has
encouraged galleries and museums to have open studios, where visitors can
follow the work in progress. Koel
Gallery recently held open studios which drew a lot of interest from visitors.
Sadeqain’s on the spot works, and public murals may be one of the reasons he
became so widely known and accessible. Artists
who work in public spaces report a lot of interest especially the water
colourists.
The artist Sara Khan recounted how she was
sketching a policeman who was writing a challan
with one knee on his motorcycle. A bit suspicious he walked over to her, but
when he saw she was only making a sketch he went back and posed for her so she
could complete the drawing.
The Art Gallery should be a place to
exchange ideas, meet up with colleagues, build up a community. Ultimately,
exhibiting art is a gesture of communication, and the artist does want to know
the work he or she invested so much time and emotion in, did communicate
something to the viewer or evoked interest. A simple “Tell me about your work” may
suffice to encourage the artist to explain the underlying ideas in the art
works.
The artist is, after all, waiting for a
Wah! And a muqarar irshad in the form
of the next exhibition.
Durriya Kazi
Karachi January 2017
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