Bani Abidi: Funland
For over fifteen years, Bani Abidi’s work has engaged with questions of personal memory, patriotism and geopolitics through the lens of present-day Pakistan and the larger histories of South Asia. With a wry sense of humour and attention to the performative aspects of daily life, the artist has approached her subject matter through a cast of minor protagonists—real and imagined, human and inanimate—which come to define a place and its culture.
The major survey of Abidi’s works at Sharjah Art Foundation includes well-known video, photography, sound and installation works as well as two new commissions. The Lost Procession (2019) is a video and sound installation that focuses on the persecuted Hazara community, who have relocated from the Pakistani city of Quetta to Germany in recent years. The second commission is a newly conceived presentation of objects, prints, books and other materials assembled by the artist. The work reflects on the vitality of the 1990s Karachi art scene, which was formative to Abidi’s development as an artist.
This exhibition is co-curated by Hoor Al Qasimi and Natasha Ginwala.
