Gateway: Structures of Meaning | Architectures of Perception.                          Abu Dhabi Art Fair 2018

Seema Nusrat’s practice takes its cue from urban society and the invisible structures that tie us to daily life. These are played out in works that are often sculptural in form. In a new work for this exhibition, Nusrat blocks a central doorway with sandbags.  Faced with this barricade, visitors have no choice but to find another entrance to the left or right, to view the exhibition. Barricades and barriers often feature in Nusrat’s work, and are so ubiquitous in her home city of Karachi that they have become part of its architectural landscape. Both defensive and protective, they signal a volatile political space and a wary acceptance of the need to be alert for a constant threat. Shifted out of this context for the exhibition, the ‘threat’ posited by the use of sandbags becomes whimsical and mischievous but retains a faint undertone of menace.