Indus Water Machines

Artist and curator Saba Khan (b. 1982, Lahore) often explores emotional, spiritual and geopolitical themes in her practice. For <em>Indus Water Machines</em>, she collaborated with Amna Hashmi, Malika Abbas, Natasha Malik, Emaan Shaikh and Saulat Ajmal. These artists, including Khan herself, are collectively known as the Pak Khawateen Painting Club [Pure Pakistani Women’s Painting Club].

In 2020, the artists travelled to the frontier of the Indus River in order to paint the hydropower dams, symbolic of nationalism, in ‘plein air.’ They were dressed in uniforms inspired by Pierre Cardin’s 1960s design for the cabin crew of Pakistan International Airlines to subvert stereotypes of upper-class women as conformist and demure. Nationalistic sites in Pakistan, typically designed by powerful men, reflect the patriarchal patriotism of the country’s post-colonial economic development. Shedding light on the transnational implications of Indus River’s hydrological projects, which caused mass displacement and resource inequality, the artwork questions what should be considered to be of greater importance: the urban centres, Indigenous people or the earth itself.