RAWALPINDI: A massive floor sculpture by Pakistan’s Hamra Abbas displayed at the Expo 2020 Dubai will become a permanent fixture in Dubai, with the artist saying she was thrilled that the work would “live on” in the emirate even after the world fair closes in March.
The Expo is the first world fair to be held in the Middle East, and Dubai, the region's tourism, trade and business hub, is hoping to boost its economy by attracting 25 million business and tourist visits to the exhibition, which has been built from scratch on 4.3 sq km (1.7 sq mile) of desert at a cost of around $6.8 billion.
Exhibitors from almost 200 countries are participating, with many countries and companies looking to the expo - the first major global event open to visitors since the coronavirus pandemic - to boost trade and investment.
This picture, taken on October 2, 2021, shows Hamra Abbas’s sprawling artwork, “Garden,” at the Dubai Expo 2020, UAE. (Photo courtesy: Hamra Abbas)
For Pakistan’s Abbas, it is the first time she has participated in an international event of such magnitude. She told Arab News she was invited to be part of the fair's Public Art Program by the event’s visual arts curator, Tarek Abou El Fetouh, last year during his visit to Lahore, Abbas’s hometown.
“I hope that people feel immersed in the work and become part of it when they walk on it or interact with it on site,” Abbas said in a telephone interview. “I am so pleased that the work will continue to be available to the public and will live on even after the expo is over in March next year.”
The 33 by 30 feet piece has been made using a marble inlay technique indigenous to Lahore, and employs a combination of granite, calcite, serpentine, jasper and lapis lazuli stones. Abbas described the work as a marble sculpture that mixes in light-based works, printmaking and miniature painting.
In this undated file photo, artist Hamra Abbas draws and maps out her floor sculpture “Garden” in Lahore, Pakistan. (Photo courtesy: Hamra Abbas)
The piece is part of the Expo’s Public Art Program that Dr Hayat Shamsuddin, senior vice-president for arts and culture at the Expo, told media aimed to incorporate the connections the UAE has made “with the rest of the world.”
“As part of Expo 2020, different countries from around the world will come together in one place, so we wanted the public art to be centred on a common thread that we, as humans, share,” curator El Fetouh told media.
Abbas, a graduate of the National College of Arts in Lahore and the University of the Arts in Berlin, said her creation featured “the aesthetics of desire and paradise,” saying she drew inspiration from images of gardens found in Mughal manuscripts, landscape photography and personal photo archives.
Artist Hamra Abbas snaps a selfie with her commissioned artwork ahead of Dubai Expo 2020 in the United Arab Emirates on September 30, 2021. (Photo courtesy: Hamra Abbas)
“The work is built on universalized readings of a garden as a utopia or paradise that is found in many traditions around the world,” Abbas said.
The piece took almost a year to complete and a whole team worked for several weeks to fully install it in its designated place at the Expo.
“The response to the piece has been overwhelming,” she said. “The response from friends and the art community in Pakistan was really incredible.”
