Image: “Every supper is the last supper there” by Anwar Saeed. Acrylics and Collage on Plywood. 4X8 ft. 1996
Guest Artist, Abdullah Qureshi shared this work by Pakistani artist, Anwar Saeed, in our recent brainstorming session for the Dawat Yan Banquet. While we have seen many historical paintings depicting “The Last Supper” Anwar Saeed’s work is a refreshing, thought-provoking, rebellious and contemporary take, as well as a unique approach to unpacking traditional, heteronormative banquets.
In “Identity and Sexuality: The Art of Anwar Saeed” Fatema writes: “In challenging the set norms of society, and the concept of social responsibility, Saeed ridicules and teases the "righteous guardians of morals" that one has acclaimed, through his paintings.”
Abdullah’s commissioned works for the Dawat Yan Banquet also disrupt the heteronormative and exclusionary boundaries of traditional banquets, especially within South Asian banquet contexts, where mainstream celebrations continue to be centred around the institution of the heteronormative, patriarchal family.
In the third image, we zoom into the painting toward the upper right corner, where a figure of the Burāq is evident. The Burāq is a creature in Islamic tradition that is believed to have carried Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Jerusalem. Representations of the Burāq continue to recur in Abdullah’s performative and lens-based works.
Stay tuned, dear guests. “Journey to the CharBagh” and “Dinner for one, please” by Abdullah Qureshi will launch on Dawat Yan Banquet soon.
