Asna – Karachi Art Directory

ABOUT

ASNA is a non-profit, art centric organisation that explores the common ground between contemporary art and traditional crafts with multiple curatorial strategies.

ASNA was founded in 1997 by Karachi based artist MeherAfroz, art critic Niilofur Farrukh, and designer Shanaz Siddiq, who as educators and art professionals felt that a new reading of traditional craft practices and their pro-active inclusion in the contemporary art practice and discourse was important to complete an understanding of cultural history in the Pakistani context. The aim has been to generate new knowledge through encounters between arts and crafts and their exponents.

Name : Asna
Established Since : 1997

NOTABLE ACTIVITIES

No Honor in Killing, Making Visible Buried Truth 2009-11 ASNA supported the art exhibition No Honor in Killing, Making Visible Buried Truth that toured 5 cities of Pakistan. The exhibition was dedicated to the 5 victims of the brutal Nasirabad honour killings. It was an attempt to keep their memory alive via art and dialogue, and seek justice for these women whose murder outraged the nation.
Dialogue with Tradition - Exhibition of Textiles in Oslo A two-week long exhibition of traditional and contemporary textile crafts was organised in Oslo at the invitation of Norsk Form, the national design institute of Norway. On display were a wide range of fabrics from rustic village textiles to court textiles, stitched costumes with embroideries of ethnic communities of Pakistan. Two craftsperson’s were also present to demonstrate embroidery techniques. A lecture and video on textiles of Pakistan were also presented on the occasion. The show attracted people from all walks of life, particularly fashion designers, textile artists and fashion design students.
Mati ki Sargoshi (Whispers of Clay) An exhibition of clay crafts from major pottery centers of the country to remote villages in four provinces was held at Gallery Sadequain, Frere Hall, Karachi. These included 400 glazed and unglazed objects. In the absence of a permanent collection of traditional ceramics, this exhibition was held to raise awareness of the rich and diverse living tradition of clay crafts and to inculcate a respect for the creators of the work.
Mati ki Sargoshi Workshop This week-long workshop was conducted by seven potters from Punjab and Sindh for contemporary ceramists. Demonstrations were carried out on traditional hand-building and surface decoration techniques. The workshop aimed to introduce alternative and cost effective methods to contemporary ceramists. An exchange of knowledge also took place between the two groups. Craft potters visited the archeological pottery collections from the Mehergarh and Indus Valley Civilisation sites at the National Museum.
Craft Documentation Researcher Aasim Akhtar was commissioned to document building techniques of various potters. The research documents the threatened crafts from across Pakistan at its location to help give an in-depth view of the extensive use of clay as a medium throughout history.