Blank Canvases of History
Art has always created the most powerful images of
historical events. Delacroix’s painting ‘Liberty
Leading the People’ became an icon of the French Revolution, the Roman
sculpture of the Dying Gaul, symbolized the defeat of a worthy opponent,
Benjamin West’s painting of the Mughal emperor Shah Alam handing over tax
collecting rights to Robert Clive, marking the beginning of the British takeover
of India.
Kings engaged artists to enhance their status. In the
reception hall of the Palace of the Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal, visitors would
be suitably filled with awe by huge reliefs of the king killing lions almost
barehanded.
Sometimes images altered history. Sculptures in the Capitol Hill, Washington, depict
Native Americans kneeling and offering gifts to the European conquerors. The
image of Christ once depicted as dark haired, dark-eyed with a middle eastern
complexion, changed into a blond and blue-eyed prophet of white nations.
Few empires can compete with the Mughals for recording
important events in art. Mughal miniatures, valued today as exquisite artworks,
were in fact documents of the time. The paintings depict meetings with
dignitaries, or Sufis, the selection of an heir, lavish dinners, including meal
preparation, hunting trips, flora and fauna, entertainment, battles, or even
the depiction of history such as the legends of Amir Hamza. With such a legacy, the absence of historical
paintings in Pakistan, is a puzzle.
Contemporary Pakistani art is known to be political, boldly
addressing global and national politics, and social issues, and could well be
seen as history paintings by future generations. However, the eventful times
from the end of the Mughal Empire to the 1990s are barely documented in art.
Looking at the work of Ravi Varma, Abdur Rehman Chughtai or
Ustad Allah Baksh, one would never guess it was a time of great social and
political upheaval. Those times were documented by European artists or local
artists commissioned by the British rulers, or travelling artists fascinated by
the exotic people and places of the subcontinent. The death of Tipu Sultan and the 1857 uprising
were depicted from the British perspective. Lady Butler known as the greatest
British Military painter, made one of the few paintings of British defeat - William
Brydon barely alive on his horse, the only survivor out of 16,500 during the
Afghan war of 1842. Even the most iconic photographs of the Partition were taken
by American photographer Margaret Bourke-White.
It is understandable that in the chaos and lack of patronage
so necessary for art, local artists were unable to record events. That was left
to the poets and speeches of freedom fighters. However, the genre of history
paintings, in which the artist seeks subject matter from the near or distant
past, did not take hold in either India or Pakistan. This indicates the
hesitation to reflect on history, a contentious subject in both countries. Who
was the victor and who the victim? Who ruled and who was ruled? India wipes out
the Muslim contributions to the freedom movement. Pakistan revises its history
with each government change.
Many countries are charged with ‘managing’ history – USA
erased the history of slavery and the genocide of Native Americans, Europeans
do not want to dwell on the dark side of colonialism, Australia defines itself as
a white country. History is seen as an essential tool for creating a patriotic
narrative, and a sense of belonging.
As Pakistani society reels in a raqs e bismil ( dance of the
wounded), nostalgia for lost values and
lifestyles are seen in the sharing of vintage images on social media. Yet
history remains a static lifeless subject. Historic personalities are presented
two-dimensionally, uncontextualized in personal, social or political narratives.
Public curiousity about the past is awakened by recountings in art, literature,
film, television, museums and books. The blank canvases of history are waiting
to be filled with Fa Hien’s travels, Alexander’s loss of his favourite horse, Bucephalus,
on the banks of the river Jhelum, the six brothers who battled the seas, whose
graves lie unnoticed in Karachi’s Gulbai (once Kul Bhai), Akbar’s birth at
Umerkot to an Emperor in exile, the bustling bazaar of Shikarpur, the mini
Stonehenge of Gadap and so much more that makes the history of this region full
of untold stories.
Durriya Kazi
Karachi. August 28, 2023
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