27 OCT – 08 DEC 2020

OPENING RECEPTION & ARTIST’S TOUR

“Paradise Lost” explores the onerous political, religious and social constructs that have re-shaped the fabric of Pakistan over the decades; yet, despite the weighty subject matter, Zafar manages to expertly weave into his work the limitless curiosity, capriciousness, and hope which has come to characterise his artistic endeavours.

Of this nation’s first disobedience, and the rot

Of that crooked timbre whose splinters today

Bring death into each home, and all our woe

With the loss of this pure land, to Him we pray

Restore us, regain that blissful seat

Sing, deadly muse, what’s written on the wall

Of this blood-soaked shore which didst inspire

The men who first taught us how to haul

The burden of sacred rage and rampage

On beggared backs crushed by boots

For tyrants delight at the blood that flowed

To the lascivious pleasing of the fanatic’s lute

Spurn me not for my mutinous song

Trample not the voice which is set to climb

Above your shackles, while it pursues

Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme

And chiefly thou, O arbiter of our sins

Who hath the temples of harmony razed

Instruct us, for only thou know’st

Who was it that set this land ablaze?

Illumine, will thou silence all offence?

Verily, to the hangman in chains we’ll plod

So we may assert Eternal Providence

And justify the ways of men to God.

The works occupy seven distinct sections of the gallery space, with each compartment acting as a sanctum giving voice to a whispered national confession; which calls into question our festering apathy and silent acquiescence in the face of increasing hostility.