Art and Polemic in Pakistan: Cultural Politics and Tradition in Contemporary Miniature Painting

Contemporary artists in Pakistan have, in recent decades, revived and reinvented miniature painting: a traditional artform which had faded under the colonial influence of the British, and is now gaining ground as a medium for a new generation of artists to challenge the world around them. At once traditional and postmodern, the miniature paintings reveal a satirical treatment of serious issues: from religious and political fundamentalism to ‘McDonalization’, from violence against women to nuclear warfare, from the pressures of Purdah to the machismo of Lollywood film posters. This is the first in-depth look at this contemporary art movement which provides a fascinating insight into the links between art and politics, and between indigenous and global aesthetics. Forty miniature paintings are reproduced here in full colour.