Born and bred in Lahore, Eemaan Bano Rehman is a visual artist and a graduate of the Beaconhouse National University (BNU). Eemaan Bano can be found on Instagram @beygumbano. I’ve always found her work fascinating and we sat down to discuss her unconventional imagery and how it resonates with her followers.
Tell us a little about what your work aims to say?
My work is a subtle questioning of our norms and ideologies. The intention is to pull the viewer from a logical, common setting to a more surreal world — defying structures and internalised notions.
Is your work informed by certain themes from your childhood, where you were born and lived or your background and socio-economic status?
Growing up in Pakistan, I was very aware of the male gaze, and that is a theme that plays out in a lot of my work. The reality of men being the audience and women as performers, pulled by the strings of patriarchy, manipulated by religion and enforced by concepts of shame and subjugation is something that’s recurring in my body of work.
What are the reasons you choose predominantly bright and vibrant colours in your work?
The use of neons and bright colours is more than an aesthetic choice. It creates a sense of hyper reality and animation. I feel it’s translative of the digitally simulated times we live in— the saturation of our ‘Instagram life’ and the mediative allure of our glowing screens. What we so blindly perceive as reality is just a simulation heightened by our own speculations about an image. Everything that had lived directly has moved away into representation
What are your artistic influences? Who are the artists who inspire your work?
The Italian artist Piero Fornasetti is a great influence in my work. I use his iconic drawings of the enigmatic Lina Cavalieri, an Italian operas singer of the early 20th century, behind my own drawings of burkas. It is a comment on objectification — in the literal sense of the word. Fornasetti created a design empire using the face of a woman on plates, lamps, chairs, ashtrays — you name the object! In my work, when she stands veiled behind the niqab, it creates a spectacle out of her and makes everyone else a spectator. It is also a comment on the idea that what is meant to shield us, also evades us.
From your own work, which has been your favourite collection to date and why?
My favourite piece so far is ‘Yeh mein hoon, yeh mere guards hein, aur yeh zameendari horahi hai’. It is comment on feudal culture and how outwardly flamboyant and egotistical it can be — but at the centre it’s weak and cowardly and thrives on the subjugation of those tied to their lands. A lion-man sits on top of a fancy, draped table enjoying a tea party — they are all propped up on the weak back of a flamingo that carries him and his masked men like a caravan.
Recently, you produced a series which is a societal comment on fake designer bags. What motivated you and how did this work resonate with your followers?
The ‘designer bag’ series was not an attack on people buying designer wear or fake designer wear. It was just a commentary on the culture of consumption — how objects and our desire for objects are driven by a system of values that are controlled by codes and unconscious social logic. So when you buy, its less about the physicality of the product, but the symbolism attached to it that acts as a prop to build the identity of an individual. Human beings are deduced to assigned values. Values in this case being of power, affluence and differentiation of social classes. Having said that, I think its comical how we take our Gucci and Pradas so seriously — almost as if to preserve the power dynamic. God forbid if anyone’s designer bag is considered fake — loyalty to the capitalist gods instantly rises to the surface!
Has the pandemic influenced your artistic thinking and work in any way?
Yes! The pandemic has been terrible for everybody in some capacity or the other, but in terms of my work, I do feel, I’ve had more space to centre myself and create, without thinking if my work will resonate with people or not. Luckily it did! Everyone looks for beautiful things in uncertain times, and I think art, in any form, hanging on the wall, or flashing on your television screens gives hope, no matter how little!
What are your plans for the future?
Don’t know about the far off future, but I’m working on a T-shirt line for June/July.
Mariam Omar is a freelance contributor and a graduate of the University of Warwick, with a special interest in creative marketing and sustainable development.
