Journeys to democracy

The policeman who physically assaulted the curator of Nairang Art Gallery in Lahore was following a long and dishonourable tradition of attacks on artists and art galleries in Pakistan. The incident reminded me of the attack on the private exhibition at Colin David’s house in Lahore, 1990, that I wrote about at the time (‘Assault on Art: Back to Square One’, The Frontier Post, June 1, 1990). I can’t find an online link to that, but below is an article I wrote later for a special edition honouring Colin David in Dawn, March 8, 2008 Unwilling symbol of an ongoing clash (text & Feica’s illustration of earlier article below; See also artist and art critic Quddus Mirza’s article about the late painter in the same edition here). Continue reading →

Filed under: Human rights | Tagged: art, Colin David, Feica, Frontier Post, Nairang, Pakistan, Quddus Mirza, vigilante violence, Zahoor ul Akhlaque | 1 Comment »