Karim Ahmed Khan

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Still Life, 2024

Still Life is a larger-than-life charcoal drawing on Wasli paper of the region’s native inhabitant, the sea buckthorn shrub, a resilient plant known for its medicinal properties and for its vital role in preventing soil erosion. Moreover, this shrub used to be the home and source of food for different species of birds and insects that collectively contributed to maintaining the natural balance of the ecosystem, in addition to providing economic opportunities for the local community. This delicate balance of nature is now threatened by deforestation and global warming. In channeling the medicinal qualities of the sea buckthorn, the artist nonetheless proposes that ‘mother nature has a unique ability to heal itself, and this remarkable power extends to humans. We have the capability to recover and repair.’

Karim Ahmad Khan (b. 1990) is a Pakistani artist from the mountainous region of Hunza. He graduated with honors from the National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore in 2015. Having received the Nigaar and Arjumand Awards, Khan’s work has been shown nationally and globally, including at the Aga Khan Art Centre in London, the Pakistan pavilion in Dubai Expo, the Alhamra Gallery in Lahore, and more. Being a native of the Hunza valley, Khan grew up watching epic glaciers that have shrunk from infinite rivers of ice to alarmingly smaller fragments. The artist’s homeland has become most at risk of glacial lake outburst flooding, evidenced by multiple outburst flooding that destroyed villages, infrastructures, and orchards. Poignantly, charcoal, Khan’s primary medium, serves as a metaphor for the generative and destructive cycle of life and the process of transformation, reflecting the volatile nature of its creation from trees, the very subject of his work.