Niilofur Farrukh’s presentation will have two layers. The first will focus on the curatorial strategy  that aimed to bring this taboo subject under discussion and seek justice for the fi ve women who were buried alive in the name of honour in Nasirabad in 2007. The two year long tour was designed to take the exhibition to towns close to the region with the highest rate of honour crimes in Pakistan as well as large cities. All exhibitions were supported with community dialogue to create a deeper awareness, seek local solutions and show solidarity with the victims and their families. In large cities the aim was not only to explore the urban dimension of crimes against women but also strengthen the voice of the activists working in urban centers close to policymakers. The second layer will foreground the artists’ intervention through their work. It will show how presenting various perspectives of the theme, historical, social, political and human, the work communicated at multiple levels, both with sophisticated gallery visitors and an uninitiated audience that was attending an exhibition for the fi rst time.

The conclusion will connect the two layers that successfully expanded the space for a dialogue and reinforced the effectiveness of visual art as a tool for social change, particularly in regard to socially sensitive subjects.

Niilofur Farrukh’s career in the visual arts includes art criticism, art history, curatorial projects, art education and art activism. Her book Pioneering Perspectives based on the life and work of three pioneering women artists of Pakistan was published in 1996. She is the founding editor of NuktaArt, Pakistan’s Contemporary Art Magazine. She contributes to op-ed pages on subjects like art and society and writes a column ‘ Critical Space’ for Daily Dawn, Pakistan’s leading English language newspaper. Her writings have been published in Newsline (Pakistan), Herald (Pakistan), Art India (India), ArtEtc (India), Jamini (Bangladesh), Art Tomorrow (Iran) among others. Niilofur Farrukh is the President of the Pakistan Section of Paris based, International Art Critics Association ( AICA) and Vice President of the AICA International Board (Paris).

As a curator she has national and international shows to her credit. She has been Pakistan’s Commissioner to Asian Art Biennale Dhaka 2006 and The Tashkent Art Biennale 2009. She is a former member of the Advisory Committee of the National Art Gallery, Islamabad and State Bank Gallery, Karachi. In 2006 as the Director of Research at FOMMA - Art History Documentation Centre, Karachi she initiated Program Art History Pakistan documenting six decades of art based on audio and video
interviews.

Registration required:

E cais@anu.edu.au
T 02 61254982

Refreshments will be served after the lecture.
This lecture is free and open to the public.
CRICOS# 00120C