An article by Mian Naeem

Sumera Jawad has put on display a series of paintings at a solo show at the Nairang Galleries, Lahore. Her works are fascinated by the power and charisma of female characters in the mythology and art of the subcontinent. She attempts to combine and fuse various art forms with the contemporary style of image making.
In one of her works, titled 'Desire 1', she portrays a female, with broken lines, in a sitting posture and her hands on the knees. The background is dark, with a variety of textures and small quick sketches of female figures.
In 'First disobedience,' she composes three figures which are close to each other, but look like in a process of detachment. The projected dark shadow serves as a background for the flatly rendered two-dimensional figures. 'Godesses' portrays four females in a group. Every face is telling a different story. One of the figures is in handcuffs.
In another work, she overlaps a number of sketches and makes a visual, crowded with figures merging with each other. The background is painted red and dark brown.
The works reflect a major shift from her previous portrait paintings. She looks comfortable in playing with printing inks on paper. However, some of the works look like graphic prints, rather than paintings, because of the application of inks. In most of her works, she applies colours to develop a backdrop for her visuals and then lifts the wet colours to draw images. Except for a few images which are simplified, there is a strong feeling of chaos and distortion in her works.

Author: (c) Mian Naeem
Art Critique
Lahore, Pakistan.