How art led resistance to Pakistan's dictatorship

A dazzling exhibitionin Qatar reveals how the repressive regime of Zia-ul-Hag led prompted a powerfulcreative defiance

- Saeed Kamali Dehghan

The 11-year religious dictatorship of General Zia-ul-Haq profoundly shaped the art of Pakistan. After the general's successful coup in 1977, his regime ushered in martial law, trampled on women's rights, enforced strict censorship and placed draconian restrictions on artistic expression.

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 groundbreaking exhibition of Pakistan's 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's history that still resonates today.

"Under Zia-ul-Haq, artists, playwrights and novelists found a way to subvert," says Mirza, whose works are among 200 featured in the exhibition, titled Manzar: Art and Architecture from Pakistan, 1940s to Today. "It was a turning point that subversive language changed the art of Pakistan for good."