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Chawkandi Art Widely recognised as the premier Art Gallery of Pakistan. Chawkandi Art celebrates 25 years of selec

Join us today for Romessa Khan’s Kālī’s Courtyard. In the artist’s own words, “Kālī emerges from the mythic traditions o...
22/09/2026

Join us today for Romessa Khan’s Kālī’s Courtyard. In the artist’s own words, “Kālī emerges from the mythic traditions of South Asia as an embodiment of time.”

Kālī’s Courtyard is a liminal space where stillness gathers and ruin becomes the soil of renewal. In this space between structure and self, Kālī does not simply destroy; she holds a light on what remains human within it.

See you today from 4:30 to 7:30 for Kālī’s Courtyard. Here, according to Khan, destruction and renewal coexist, with tenderness enduring through both.

The exhibition continues through 2 October.

’scourtyard

TODAY: Romessa Khan’s Kali’s Courtyard.“Kālī emerges from the mythic traditions of South Asia as an embodiment of time,”...
22/09/2026

TODAY: Romessa Khan’s Kali’s Courtyard.

“Kālī emerges from the mythic traditions of South Asia as an embodiment of time,” according to Khan. “Kālī’s Courtyard is a liminal space where stillness gathers, and ruin becomes the soil of renewal. In this space between structure and self, Kālī does not simply destroy. She holds light on what remains human within it.”

See you today for Kali’s Courtyard: here, in the artist’s words, destruction and renewal coexist, with tenderness enduring through both.

The exhibition continues through 2nd October.

’scourtyard

21/09/2026

Join us tomorrow for the opening of Romessa Khan’s solo exhibition ‘Kali’s Courtyard’.

Romessa Khan, born in 1986 in Lahore, is a contemporary multidisciplinary visual artist. She earned a BFA in Printmaking and an MPhil in Visual Arts from the National College of Arts, Lahore. Her MPhil research explored
metaphysical concepts within Islam and Sanātana Dharma, examining how ideas rooted in sacred narratives are expressed through interpretation and tradition.

Khan’s practice explores the cyclical narratives of nature and the continual movement between creation, destruction, deterioration, and renewal. Her work considers how traces of human presence accumulate on surfaces, and
how what is overlooked, altered, or broken can become a site for transformation.

TOMORROW: Romessa Khan’s Kālī’s Courtyard.In Khan’s own words, “Kālī emerges from the mythic traditions of South Asia as...
21/09/2026

TOMORROW: Romessa Khan’s Kālī’s Courtyard.

In Khan’s own words, “Kālī emerges from the mythic traditions of South Asia as an embodiment of time.”
Kālī’s Courtyard is a liminal space where stillness gathers and ruin becomes the soil of renewal. In this space between structure and self, Kālī does not simply destroy; she holds a light on what remains human within it.

Join us tomorrow, 22 September, for Kālī’s Courtyard. Here, according to Khan, destruction and renewal coexist, with tenderness enduring through both.

The exhibition continues through 2 October.

’scourtyard

Chawkandi Art Gallery is delighted to present Romessa Khan’s Kali’s Courtyard.In Khan’s own words, “Kālī emerges from th...
19/09/2026

Chawkandi Art Gallery is delighted to present Romessa Khan’s Kali’s Courtyard.

In Khan’s own words, “Kālī emerges from the mythic traditions of South Asia as an embodiment of time.
Kālī’s Courtyard is a liminal space where stillness gathers, and ruin becomes the soil of renewal. In this space between structure and self, Kālī does not simply destroy. She holds light on what remains human within it.”

Join us on 22nd September for Kali’s Courtyard: here, according to Khan, destruction and renewal coexist, with tenderness enduring through both.

The exhibition continues through 2nd October.

’scourtyard

Last day to see the show!Unver Shafi Khan | Head, August 27th, 2022 | Acrylic on Canvas | 19 x 15 inches | 2022“If the l...
18/09/2026

Last day to see the show!

Unver Shafi Khan | Head, August 27th, 2022 | Acrylic on Canvas | 19 x 15 inches | 2022

“If the larger oil paintings are exercises in virtuosity and control and hinged mostly on solitary forms, the meticulously observed acrylic ‘miniatures’ collectively titled as the Fabulist series [as in taking inspiration from traditional fables] use a striking jewel-like visual narrative full of sexual wit and innuendo. This narrative content is drawn from a host of arts and crafts traditions and these paintings provide a sense of looking past the edge of the ordinary world into the domain of the phantasmagoric.

Those made uncomfortable by the ostensible disjunction between Unver’s large work and these miniature scaled paintings need not be unduly alarmed as they share a common pictorial ethos. It is all there for the main part—the choice of the human figure as the basic unit of art, the saturation of colour, the mastery of rhythm, the sexuality, the relentless sense of fun—the only difference being one of scale and technique. The paintings in both mediums are profligate in their wholesale abandonment to feelings and flat-out appeal to the senses.”

— Saquib Hanif, “The Herald”

Unver Shafi Khan's works are part of States of Perception, curated by Emaan Mahmud. Alongside Abid Aslam, Faizan Reidinger, Hina Tabassum, Noman Siddiqui, Shamsuddin and Sheema Khan.

Emaan Mahmud



Unver Shafi Khan | Head, March 17th, 2021 | Acrylic on Board | 15 x15 inches | 2021

Noman Siddiqui | Guns ‘N’ Roses - I | Bronze on marble | 19 x 12 x 6 inches | 2026A bronze sculpture featuring a gun ado...
17/09/2026

Noman Siddiqui | Guns ‘N’ Roses - I | Bronze on marble | 19 x 12 x 6 inches | 2026

A bronze sculpture featuring a gun adorned with intricate floral patterns, Guns and Roses presents a symbol of violence concealed within a fragile and playful form. Pointing directly towards the viewer, it creates a sense of confrontation, questioning how power and aggression are often disguised beneath beauty, decorative surfaces, and camouflage, reflecting the ways authority can conceal and exercise its power within society.

Noman's works are part of our ongoing group exhibition 'States of Perception' curated by Emaan Mahmud. The exhibition continues until September 18th, 2026.

Emaan Mahmud



Detail | Guns ‘N’ Roses - I

Detail | Guns ‘N’ Roses - I

Noman Siddiqui | Guns ‘N’ Roses - II | Bronze on marble | 19 x 12 x 6 inches | 2026

Detail | Guns ‘N’ Roses - II

Detail | Guns ‘N’ Roses - II

Curated by Emaan Mahmud, States of Perception is currently on view at Chawkandi Art Gallery. Discover works by Abid Asla...
16/09/2026

Curated by Emaan Mahmud, States of Perception is currently on view at Chawkandi Art Gallery. Discover works by Abid Aslam, Faizan Reidinger, Hina Tabassum, Noman Siddiqui, Sheema Khan, Shamsuddin, Unver Shafi, and Zaid Baloch.

Bringing together sculpture, miniature painting, figuration, and abstraction, the exhibition resists a visually uniform experience. Instead, it considers the different ways artists approach expression and asks how perception shapes our understanding of reality.

As the curator reflects: “Can reality ever be objective when we each experience the world through memory, emotion, desire, and personal history?” Against a landscape of digital overexposure, political instability, emotional exhaustion, and an endless stream of images, States of Perception considers what happens to perception itself.

The exhibition also unpacks the contradictions of contemporary life—the tension between visibility and disconnection, performance and authenticity, emotional intimacy and exhaustion, and what is genuinely felt versus what is projected.

States of Perception continues through 18 September.

Photography by

.noman .tabassum.3956

Zaid Baloch | Cultivate | Oil on canvas | 36 x 24 inches | 2024My practice is rooted in Surrealism. I am fascinated by t...
16/09/2026

Zaid Baloch | Cultivate | Oil on canvas | 36 x 24 inches | 2024

My practice is rooted in Surrealism. I am fascinated by the unconscious mind and the concept of pareidolia-the human tendency to see familiar shapes in ambiguous forms.

Through painting, I manipulate time and build dreamlike environments that narrate unconventional stories. My work is about layers: the more one looks, the more one discovers. Intricate shapes, fluid forms, and careful color relationships invite viewers to slow down and find their own meanings within the piece.

I use color theory to evoke emotion and create visual harmony, allowing imagined worlds to feel both mysterious and familiar. For me, art is a passage into the surreal — a space where perception is challenged and new perspectives on the self and human experience can emerge.

Emaan Mahmud

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Zaid Baloch | Mythical | Oil paint and paper mache on canvas | 34 x 17 inches | 2025

Zaid Baloch | Impulse | Oil on canvas | 18 x 20 inches | 2025

States of Perception is on display at Chawkandi Art Gallery. Curated by Emaan Mahmud, the exhibition features works by A...
15/09/2026

States of Perception is on display at Chawkandi Art Gallery. Curated by Emaan Mahmud, the exhibition features works by Abid Aslam, Faizan Reidinger, Hina Tabassum, Noman Siddiqui, Sheema Khan, Shamsuddin, Unver Shafi, and Zaid Baloch.

Bringing together sculpture, miniature painting, figuration, and abstraction, the exhibition does not attempt to create a visually uniform experience, according to the curator. Instead, it is curious of how differently artists approach expression itself. The curator asks: Can reality ever be objective when we each experience the world through memory, emotion, desire, and personal history? “In a time increasingly shaped by digital overexposure, political instability, emotional exhaustion, and endless streams of images, what happens to perception itself?”

States of Perception is also interested in the contradictions that increasingly define contemporary life: the constant visibility yet increasing disconnect from oneself and others. “There is an ongoing tension between performance and authenticity, emotional intimacy and emotional exhaustion, what is genuinely felt and what is continuously projected outward into the world.”

States of Perception continues through 18th September.

Photography by

.noman .tabassum.3956

Address

105, Marine Point, DCI, Kehkashan, Block 9, Clifton
Karachi

Opening Hours

Monday 11:00 - 20:00
Tuesday 11:00 - 20:00
Wednesday 11:00 - 20:00
Thursday 11:00 - 20:00
Friday 11:00 - 20:00
Saturday 11:00 - 20:00

Telephone

+922135373582

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