Q. Your show draws on the multiplicity of human identities. How crucial was the theme for your first solo in India?
A. It is never possible for me to work on one single layer, meaning or theme. My work always has many layers, but there is one that dominates and this time it was “identity”. For this show, in most of the pieces, I have used recycled shopping bags. I hardly used recycled bags before, but for the show in India, I somehow felt the importance of using used bags.
Recycled material has a lot of importance in the context of me as a Pakistan-born artist showing in India. I am calling these works “Recycled Identities”. If I look at myself or millions of people like me who were forced or who chose to change their identities — from Hindu to become Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or from Indian to Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, American, or anything — I am wondering if during all these years of transformation one can get a chance to become human, which is the greatest identity in all respects.
Other than various play of visual elements, the theme has little importance than other elements.
Q. In your earlier works, you have made use of bronze and wood, ceramics and fibreglass. What triggered your interest in plastic bags?
A. To me, materials don’t belong to anyone. Other than plastic bags, I have worked with many non-conventional materials, like plumbing pipes, neon lights or found objects, anything that can hold the nature of my content.
I started working with trash bags in late 2005 after my first visit to the New York City. The city is filled with people, but after midnight one would see thousands of trash bags filled with garbage appear on the street and roadsides everywhere and one would wonder on this transition. It seemed like the humans had been replaced by the trash bags.
This is the age of plastic. Open your computer and you won’t see anything other than plastic. I live in this age so I use this material, but instead of using any other plastic, I am using garbage bags or used grocery bags. Occasionally, I would use plastic shower curtains too.
The human figure made out of trash bags says a lot. It is a loaded material.
Q. To what an extent do the sculptures in the show reflect your own perception of religion and the various ways in which it governs our actions and aspirations?
A. As they say every piece of art is a self-portrait. Yes, they totally reflect my perception of religion and everything that drives/forms my concerns. But, again, there are many layers of each work. To me, we have mixed many things with religion and other identities, like national and even regional. I believe religion is not about gods or God. It is everything to connect back to the mankind and, interestingly, when one is into that state of mind, one is not limited to anything. Cultural regional or other identities are just a realisation of one’s own surroundings: Like the fact that I am a male is a realisation, but when I am trapped in this image then, my realisation becomes my identity and then it is nothing less than a disaster.
Q. Do some of your works reflect the cynic in you?
A. One does not live in a fool’s paradise. According to the famous Buddhist belief that life is exactly like one is sitting in a small enclosed space with a cobra, one has to be attentive all the time otherwise one would be killed by the cobra. If finding reality reads as being cynical then I am totally okay with it.
Q. What identify of yours are you most comfortable with? As someone straddling different worlds, do you see all the moving around getting reflected in your work somewhere?
A. I am a human being and see others as human beings too: this is the only identity that makes sense to me. Yes, I totally believe that sometimes viewers see more than the artist and that is a very major reason I show my work especially in public spaces. I am very thankful to Aparajita Jain of Art Seven Limited and the rest of the team, who really worked very hard to make it happen, especially when I could not be there. The gallery became a link between me and the people of New Delhi.
Q. You are also into literature. How much of that has helped shape your sensibility?
A. I love when someone says/writes very complicated idea in just a few words. That is why I love literature and have respect for people who are gifted with words, which is something I am not blessed with.
Surely, literature and music help me a lot to enter into the state of mind where I can begin my work.
Q. Give me a sense of how you work. Where do you seek inspiration from? How vital is the choice of medium for you?
A. Like I said, music and a good piece of writing help me to take the first step towards most of my pieces.
Like everyone else, the first thing I noticed during my first trip to the New York City was the number of people: thousands of people were hanging out like crazy. I immediately fell in love with that energy, but after a few hours, I also noticed almost the same amount of black plastic bags, filled with garbage, were starting to replace these people. That experience is still overwhelming for me. I still feel the same way whenever I see it again.
Making organic forms from plastic is fun. The human muscle, at times, looks real but they are made of trash bags. I love that feeling.
I usually tie them together. There is no formula. Every time I feel the same difficulty that I experienced on the very first day when I worked with this material because it does not have any armature in it. So, if I don’t pay attention it can disappear anytime, and it does, if I am not present.
Q. Even though the two countries have a lot to share, has art evolved differently in India and Pakistan? What strikes you the most in the subcontinent’s contemporary art? What do we need to learn from the West in matters of art?
A. Although I would never go into the discussion of East or West, I surely have much more experience and knowledge of the Eastern way of approaching things than Western. So, I find many things to learn from the Western art or ways of life (as I believe art should be the reflection of one’s life).
In Pakistan and India, one sees the extensive use of borrowed skill which reflects the inexpensive availability of craft. I personally do not relate to this idea.
To me, art has two functions: One, it provides a discourse to the public. Two, it also helps art itself to learn about his/her ideas or issues. When one just becomes an idea-machine, then there is hardly any chance to get to the mode where one thinks with all of one’s being, and it happens during the process of creation.
Q. What are your other shows in the offing?
A. Right now, I am overwhelmed about many incidents happening inside Pakistan — natural disasters and brutal politics of the country. I myself want to see what it will do to my work. I am currently working towards two upcoming shows.