Syed Jamal Shah

Born in 1956 in Quetta (Pakistan)
Lives and works in Islamabad (Pakistan)

Syed Jamal Shah is an artist, writer, filmmaker, educationist and social worker. He completed his Master’s in English literature from Balochistan University and joined the National College of Arts, Lahore, where he was the first to major in Sculpture. Upon completing his degree there, Shah returned to Quetta, where he set up the Department of Fine Arts at Balochistan University. He chaired the department for three years and then went on a British Council scholarship to do a Master’s in printmaking from The Slade School of Arts, London. Trained in various disciplines of Visual Arts, his forte remains sculpture. He has been a prolific artist throughout his career and has exhibited widely in Pakistan and internationally. He is the recipient of many awards including the Gold Medal at the 5th Asian Art Biennale in Dhaka. His work is part of the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and Fukouka Museum, Japan. He has done many important commissioned projects in Pakistan and abroad. In addition, Shah founded the Hunerkada Art Academy in Islamabad and has been Director General of the Pakistan National Council of the Arts.

For KB17, Syed Jamal Shah has created a 25-foot metallic cage with wings surrounded by a number of life-size human figures cast in various materials and installed at Frere Hall, a central Karachi location. The surfaces of the sculptures have been treated in a variety of media. The installation also includes: two large LED screens for video projection of performances; a poetry recital by renowned media personalities/actors; dance by Amna Mawaz and the NPAG group of PNCA; music by Sain Khawar and Ustad Hamid Shahid and Faqirs from Sindh; as well as live painting and graffiti during the dance performances. The work invites a cross-disciplinary interactivity and engages other important artists from different disciplines including students and art enthusiasts in performances that will simultaneously be video recorded and projected. Syed Jamal Shah writes, “SITUATION 101 is a major art project specially executed for Karachi Biennale 2017 with the thematic area witness in mind. The work is a playful comment on the dichotomy of freedom, un-freedom Inviting interactivity, questions and interpretations. Being based on the eternal paradox of the cage within, invisible cage or the relativity of freedom and free will, the project wishes to initiate a dialogue on several levels. At one level It is about subjugation, submission and dehumanization; on others it reflects hope, dreams and the human struggle for liberation and situations in life that might have encouraged human beings to engage with life intimately in a creative and critical manner thereby triggering evolution and change. It is also about the inborn need of humankind to connect despite ironies, absurdities and playfulness from ancient history to living cultures with esthetic crossovers. SITUATION 101 as an art activity also questions the essence of art as a vehicle for change and esthetic decision-making. It is as much about the function of art as it is about the art object which is why it presents itself to be a non-museum work that seeks spontaneous interaction with people.”