Beyond the Ideas of Rightness or Wrongness

Ambreen Butt’s piece, Beyond the Ideas of Rightness or Wrongness features eleven drawings made from ripped pieces of Pakistan’s blasphemy law documents. The drawings depict the Punjab governor, Salmaan Taseer and his self-confessed assassin Mumtaz Qadri. Two portraits of the men hang on two different sides, but their features merge, as they blend into one another. “It was about interpretations, and how man-made texts can be elevated to the level of a holy scripture,” Ambreen says, “It is about heroic representation and that someone can be made out to be an angel or a demon. One can’t exist without the other and it’s about who you are seeing as a hero. Qadri was showered with rose petals, while Salmaan became a hero for giving up his life. It’s very reflective of your own person. It is a statement that extremism exists within you. (Shadab Khan)