The exhibition After Images: Of Erasures, curated by Hajra Haider (Pakistan), brings together works by artist Fazal Rizvi (Karachi, Pakistan) and Sonya Schoenberger (Berlin, Germany).

The artists have been investigating individual and national identity through the voids found in the official narratives of national histories in their separate art practices. They recollect memories through objects and stories of people reflecting on the present state of existence in light of our today and yesterday

Once occurred, an event is etched in history, leaving fragments behind for the generations to come. The question then is: how does the knowledge of these fragments inform those in the future?

Children grow up listening to stories of day's bygone, times unseen. These memories are nurtured not just through stories but memorabilia scattered in the surroundings. The tales being repeated so often that they form a new reality in the mind of the listeners who feel they have witnessed the events and hence rendering them true.

With this exhibition, the artists look at the history of the two countries in which they live. Two countries that seem to have not much in common at first glance, and yet share a historical rupture: both started from scratch at the end of World War II and became target of migration due to new demarcations. Pakistan was founded after the war and had to struggle with mass migration subsequently. Germany also was to some extent re-founded after the World War II, had to be rebuilt and to accommodate a large number of war refugees. The artists investigate the countries' official history and culture of remembrance and reflect upon the way the countries are coming to terms with the past.

After Images: Of Erasures builds on the project Tracing the Void that took place in February 2015 at IVS Gallery in Karachi and had a similar thematic frame.

Sonja Schönberger and Tentative Collective, an artist group that Hajra Haider and Fazal Rizvi are part of, will present further works in the exhibition Digging Deep - Crossing Far at Kunstraum Kreuzberg Bethanien in Berlin, November 9 – 13, 2016.

Opening hours
Friday, 2.30 – 6.30 p.m., and by appointment