{"id":68648,"date":"2024-12-31T01:34:37","date_gmt":"2024-12-30T16:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/artanddesign\/2024\/dec\/30\/our-art-is-a-mirror-of-truth-pakistan-manzar-art-architecture-exhibition-national-museum-quatar"},"modified":"2024-12-31T01:34:37","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T16:34:37","slug":"killed-birds-rotting-sculpture-and-a-pms-execution-the-pakistani-artists-who-defied-a-dictator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/?p=68648","title":{"rendered":"Killed birds, rotting sculpture and a PM\u2019s execution: the Pakistani artists who defied a dictator"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A dazzling exhibition of Pakistan\u2019s art and architecture \u2013 some of it never before loaned outside the country \u2013 shows how the repressive 11-year regime of Zia-ul-Haq triggered an extraordinary resistance<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The 11-year religious dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq profoundly shaped the art of Pakistan. After the general\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2015\/jul\/11\/pakistan-sharia-law-general-zia-1977\">successful coup in 1977<\/a>, his regime ushered in martial law, trampled on women\u2019s rights, enforced strict censorship and placed draconian restrictions on artistic expression.<\/p>\n<p>Ascent of Man, an abstract painting by Quddus Mirza, is inspired by the controversial trial and hanging of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the democratically elected prime minister overthrown by the coup. The painting, part of <a href=\"https:\/\/nmoq.org.qa\/en\/calendar\/manzar-exhibition\/\">a groundbreaking exhibition<\/a> of Pakistan\u2019s art and architecture, depicts a man sitting in a chair while a headless body floats in the sky. It blends elements of magic realism with an allusion to the seventh-century martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, a grandson of the prophet Muhammad whose death was a major episode in Islam\u2019s history that still resonates today.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/artanddesign\/2024\/dec\/30\/our-art-is-a-mirror-of-truth-pakistan-manzar-art-architecture-exhibition-national-museum-quatar\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A dazzling exhibition of Pakistan\u2019s art and architecture \u2013 some of it never before loaned outside the country \u2013 shows how the repressive 11-year regime of Zia-ul-Haq triggered an extraordinary resistanceThe 11-year religious dictatorship of General Zia&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":446,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sns_share_botton_hide":"","vkExUnit_sns_title":"","_vk_print_noindex":"","sitemap_hide":"","_veu_custom_css":"","veu_display_promotion_alert":"","vkexunit_cta_each_option":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546,91,71,90,1554,60,1065,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-art-and-design","category-culture","category-exhibitions","category-painting","category-pakistan","category-sculpture","category-south-and-central-asia"],"veu_head_title_object":{"title":"","add_site_title":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/446"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68648"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68649,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68648\/revisions\/68649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}