Wastelands: Between Art and Anthropology

This presentation will recount the experiences and proposals arising from a seminar entitled Anthropology as a Tool for Artists that I have been conducting over the last 15 years in England, France and South Asia. The idea is to show how anthropology may serve towards understanding other art stories: those which can disturb the ethnocentric narrative of western art history. Issues on ‘curating cultures’ and the debate between artists and ethnographers will be illustrated through references to exhibitions/conferences I have curated: in particular Contemporary Miniature Painting from Pakistan (2001-2005: India, France, Switzerland, Japan) representing artists in my book: Art and Polemic in Pakistan, Cultural Politics and Tradition in Contemporary Miniature Painting (I.B. Tauris 2010): Imran Qureshi, Aisha Khalid, Nusra Latif, Khadim Ali, Saira Wasim, Hamra Abbas, Ahsan Jamal, Ayesha Durrani, Hasnat Mehmood, Muhammad Zeeshan, Waseem Ahmed, Reeta Saeed, Talha Rathore, Mahreen Asif Zuberi, Mahwish Kamran Chishty et al.