The Pakistan National Council of the Arts in collaboration with Nomad Gallery opened Sindhu Sur to showcase a vibrant conversation between tradition and contemporary practice, curated by Nageen Hyat. The exhibition highlights how illumination, geometric frameworks and time-honoured visual languages of Sindh are being reinterpreted by a new generation of artists.
Senator Rubina Rauf inaugurated the exhibition and praised the initiative for reviving regional art practices and encouraging cultural dialogue through visual storytelling. The opening was attended by Frederico Silva, Ambassador of Portugal to Pakistan, Ms Nicole Guihot, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Australian High Commission, curator Nageen Hyat and Mariam Ahmed, Director Visual Arts Division PNCA.
Participating artists draw from Sindh’s artistic and spiritual legacy, bringing Ajrak patterns, rally designs, Makli structures and the sacred geometry of Thatta into contemporary compositions. Works by Shahzad Zar, Muzammil H. Chandio, Ayman Babar, Mehrin Haseeb, Mahnoor Fatima, Munazza Khan, Aniqa Fatima, Hina Muhammad and Ambreen Shah demonstrate how craft, faith and aesthetics intersect across layered forms and rhythmic colour fields.
The show features contributions from recent graduates and faculty of the VM Centre for Traditional Arts in Karachi alongside Muzammil H. Chandio, a graduate of the National College of Arts in Lahore, reinforcing institutional links that sustain regional techniques while pushing creative boundaries. Sindhu Sur foregrounds local motifs in ways that speak to both heritage and contemporary practice.
Organisers emphasised that Sindhu Sur supports artistic voices from Sindh, with particular attention to empowering women artists and indigenous communities whose work carries rich cultural memory. The exhibition underlines PNCA and Nomad Gallery’s shared commitment to platforms that nurture cultural diversity and craft continuity across Pakistan.
The exhibition is open daily from 10am to 4pm and will run until 30 October. Visitors are encouraged to experience Sindhu Sur in person to see how geometry, colour and traditional artisanal skills converge in a modern visual language.
