ISLAMABAD: Tanzara Gallery is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition “Unveiling Persia” – a celebration of beauty, geometry and cultural legacy through the artworks of Shakil Saigol. The opening will be on 12 Dec, Friday at Saidpur Village.
Persia has long been a centre of beauty, intellect, and artistic innovation. In “Unveiling Persia”, Saigol responds to that enduring legacy through an artist’s lens – discovering in its monuments, craftsmanship and refined visual order a culture that continues to resonate with extraordinary clarity. This exhibition reflects a journey where history remains alive in pattern, form, and imagination.
Within the serenity of mosques, the elegance of palaces and gardens, and the monumental presence of archaeological sites, Saigol encountered a language of geometry – precise, symbolic, and endlessly expanding. These patterns, built from fragments that reveal themselves through repetition, provide the foundation for his work.
The sarees in this exhibition reinterpret Persian tile work by shifting it from ceramic to fabric.
Saigol’s translation preserves the sophistication of the original while granting it movement and tactility- shaping a contemporary expression of a centuries old aesthetic.
“Unveiling Persia” does not attempt to capture the vastness of a civilisation whose influence spans millennia and continents. Instead, it offers a thoughtful tribute – a glimpse into the imagination and craftsmanship that continue to define the splendour of Persia.
Tanzara Gallery, in collaboration with Studio RM,presents “Beyond DNA 2”
The organizer Ms Noshi Qadir says ;
Persia has long been a centre of beauty, intellect, and artistic innovation. In ”Unveiling Persia”, Shakil Saigol responds to that enduring legacy through an artist’s lens- discovering in its monuments, craftsmanship, and refined visual order a culture that continues to resonate with extraordinary clarity. Unveiling Persia reflects a journey where history remains alive in pattern, form, and imagination.
Within the serenity of mosques, the elegance of palaces and gardens, and the monumental presence of archaeological sites, Saigol encountered a language of geometry – precise, symbolic, and endlessly expanding. These patterns, built from fragments that reveal themselves through repetition, provide the foundation for his work.
The sarees in this exhibition reinterpret Persian tile work by shifting it from ceramic to fabric. Saigol’s translation preserves the sophistication of the original while granting it movement and tactility, shaping a contemporary expression of a centuries-old aesthetic.
Unveiling Persia does not attempt to capture the vastness of a civilisation whose influence spans millennia and continents. Instead, it offers a thoughtful tribute ; a glimpse into the imagination and craftsmanship that continue to define the splendour of Persia.
Shakil Saigol is Karachi based artist
Shakil Saigol was born in Kolkata in 1944. He graduated from the Government College, Lahore and later went off to study History at Queen’s College, Oxford. From a family that made its fortune in the textile industry, Saigol, in his forties, chose to pursue his art practice and exhibited his works for the first time at the Lahore Art Gallery in 1991.
Since then, his works have been shown in several national and international exhibitions to critical acclaim and are part of various collections in Pakistan and abroad, notably in India, Britain, the USA, Italy, Germany, Poland, Switzerland and the UAE.
How art and visual storytelling bring shared human experiences to life
Shakil’s Journey Through Persia ! Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva
The artist shares ;
Expecting to be underwhelmed I departed for my brief sojourn two years ago with the pessimism typical of travelers in their twilight years. How wrong could one be!
Tehran was modern, congested and bustling but once inside the mosques, the palaces and the gardens the splendour that is Persia assailed the senses. I found myself overwhelmed by the largely pristine condition of the monuments, even in the remains of Persepolis or Takht e Jamsheed built by Darius the Great in 500BC.
It’s all too easy to think of Persia and Iran as one entity but the Persian Empire stretched from Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva in what is now Uzbekistan up to Turkey and beyond , at various times in history.
My inspiration for the sarees came from the wealth of tile designs, some in gravity-defying relief. The intricacy of the design is confusing . One tile alone is only perhaps a fourth of the whole pattern, as in most Islamic patterns. I have attempted to incorporate some of these tile patterns into the sarees, transiting from ceramic to fabric.
The Persian aesthetic is so evolved and the sensibilities so refined that it has to be said, this body of work barely scratches the surface of the magnificence of the Persian experience. Over two millennia of excellence in Architecture, Literature, Textiles and Ceramics bear testimony to the creative genius of Persian imagination. My effort is a humble tribute.
The exhibition will continue until December 31st 2025
11:30 AM – 7:00 PM (Monday – Saturday)
Tanzara Gallery
1/A, Main Saidpur Road, Saidpur Village, Islamabad
