ISLAMABAD: Women artists from Pakistan, the Middle East and other countries who participated in a two-week artist residency program in Islamabad this month said the experience helped them to learn from each other and hone their craft as well as overcome stereotypes about each other’s people and culture.
In March 2020, when Amad and Waleeya Mian arrived in Pakistan from Dubai for their wedding, little did they know that the coronavirus would not only strand them in the country for months but also land them their best idea yet. They launched Dastaangoi, the word for storytelling in the Urdu and Persian languages, a platform to promote interaction and exchange of ideas around art, design and culture.
The platform began by hosting regular Zoom sessions that included performances and storytelling by Pakistani artists, stylists and dancers.
Last year, Dastaangoi launched its Artist-in-Residence Program on a 14-acre vineyard, offering artists a two-week residency with accommodation and studio space.
This month, the second year of the residency program, brought five artists from Iraq, Iran, Italy and Pakistan to the vineyard dotted with olive, grape, and orange trees in the heart of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. The participants were selected from among 180 applicants by a well-respected group of art and culture leaders, including UAE-based artist and collector Rami Farook, Tunisian calligraffiti artist eL Seed and Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi, president and director of the Sharjah Art Foundation.
“I am here for two weeks and it is a very amazing and inspiring experience as I have created five paintings, inspired by the nature here,” Iraqi painter Miramar Al-Nayyar told Arab News last week, pointing to her art work on display at the Dastaangoi art gallery.
“This kind of residency program is very important, because it is building bridges between Pakistan and the [Middle East] region.”
She said the program would also help break stereotypes about Pakistan.
“Before I came to Pakistan, I was a bit anxious because, you know, this image of Pakistan, which is terrible, and I wanted to break it,” Al-Nayyar said. “My family was like, ‘What are you doing? Where are you going?’”
But the artist said she was “happy” she made the decision to come to Pakistan.
“I want to come back again to explore more and to get to meet other artists, Pakistani artists. And they’re amazing, all of them like, they’re brilliant,” she said. “So far, the ones I met, they’re so inspiring, I learnt so much from them.”
Maryam Harvani, an artist from Iran’s Tabriz city who resides in Istanbul, said the Islamabad residency program had provided her “a lot of exposure.”
“Also, I have met with a few very good artists in Pakistan,” the artist, who specializes in calligraphy and watercolors, told Arab News. “We shared different techniques and styles of work. It was very beneficial.”
Pakistani miniaturist Ramsha Haider said her work had “transformed a lot” after working with international artists during the program.
“I practice traditional miniature which has hard and fast rules and regulations,” Haider said. “They [international artists] inspired me to break my practice and work on something very different.”
Mian, the co-founder of the residency, said the program had served its purpose.
“The main reason for starting the artist residency program was to bring people together from different parts of the world and get them to interact, because we have so many amazing artists but they never got a chance to interact with international artists,” he told Arab News.
“We have so many amazing artists, but a lot of the time, Pakistani artists don’t get to go outside and a lot of outside artists, like international artists, don’t get to come to Pakistan. So, we wanted to build a bridge between the two.”
Mian said he hoped to expand Dastaangoi to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates next year.
“We are also going to Dubai in December this year,” he said, “with different artists to show our projects there.”
