Artist in Residence: Summaiya Jillani
It was a cold First Friday in December when we spotted a young woman rearranging paintings in the window of a gallery. She wasn’t familiar but the paintings were – we stepped into the gallery to inquire about them and discovered they were the works of a young Pakistani artist we’d recently read about in the press. As it turned out, the girl in the window was the artist.
After some polite introductions, we found ourselves rearranging Summaiya’s travel plans so she could be our 2nd Artist-in-residence. It didn’t take much convincing. We both realized what an amazing opportunity had just landed in our laps.
Jillani’s work often carries a whimsical Eastern retelling of the influence of western pop culture. Like her famous painting of Marilyn dressed in classic Pakistani attire (Baar baar dekho, hazaar baar dekho).
This was one of our more significant projects in terms of its subject matter and artistic representation of cultural perceptions. Jillani hails from Karachi, Pakistan; at the time the climate between the US and Pakistan was precocious, at best. For Summaiya, it was important to convey Pakistan through a different lens.
Her gallery paintings were recreated as a series of prints and spread around downtown Philly.
This was the first time that did a Q & A with one of our artists. HAHA Mag sat down with Visual Artist, Summaiya Jillani to discuss her views on community art and to figure out how street art is received in Pakistan. You can view our conversation here.
