Farida Batool

Born in 1970 in Lahore (Pakistan)
Lives and works in Lahore (Pakistan)

Lahore based visual artist and researcher in visual culture, Farida Batool completed her Doctorate in Media and Film in 2015 from SOAS, London University. In 2003, she acquired her Master of Arts in Art History and Theory (Research) from the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Australia, and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan in 1993. Batool has taught in many universities, including University of New South Wales, Australia, Beaconhouse National University, and National College of Arts, Lahore, where she is currently officiating the Department of Communication and Cultural Studies. She has travelled extensively and presented papers and presentations at international conferences and workshops including Yale University, USA; Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Montreal, Canada; Oxford University, UK; Jawaharlal Nehru University, India; Itau Cultural, Sao Paulo, Brazil; UNESCAP Jordan; UNIFEM Bangladesh; and has published papers and articles including authoring a book on figurative representation in Pakistani popular culture titled Figure: the Popular and Political in Pakistan, 2004. Batool is interested in developing a comprehensive cultural critique of Pakistani, Islamic, and Western modes of everyday life, which is also reflected in her recent short film for the BBC online called The Clash of Masculinities. Solo exhibitions include “By the High Walls and Closed Gates,” Gandhara Art-Space, Karachi (2016); “Kahani eik shehr ki,” Rohtas 2, Lahore (2012); “Love in the Time of Cholera,” Canvas Gallery, Karachi (2009); “Maa Tujhe Salaam,” Aicon Gallery, New York, (2009); “Lahore My Love,” Rohtas 2, Lahore (2008), “The Blink,” Rohtas 2, Lahore (2006). Selected group shows include “Where Three Dreams Cross: 150 Years of Photography,” Whitechapel Gallery, London (2010); “Forces,” Portimao Museum, Algrave, Portugal (2009); “Tradition,Technique,Technology II,” Aicon Gallery, Palo Alto, USA (2008); “Beyond Borders: Art from Pakistan,” National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, India (2004); “Interstation: Artists Beyond Boundaries,” Kudos Gallery, Sydney, Australia (2003); and Cairo Biennale, Egypt (1995).

Farida Batool has two works on view at KB17. She uses lenticular prints in which the image changes when the viewer moves position, in order to portray contrasting realities. The two images are often related through the notion of memory or history, with the “earlier” image being both partially erased but also constitutive of the “later” image. This medium facilitates in addressing the social and political realities of Pakistan with a nuanced and poetic expressions often rooted in and supplemented by personal experience.