Sonya Rehman’s Archive

By Sonya Rehman
Situated in suburban Lahore, ‘Grey Noise’ (a relatively new art gallery in the city) is displaying Shahlalae Jamil’s first solo exhibition (in Pakistan) and is running from the 13th to the 31st of January.
The sky is overcast, its expectant belly full. It’d been drizzling a while ago and the gravel beneath my wheels [...]

Comedy comes to Lahore and leaves it howling for more!
By Sonya Rehman
On a frosty winter evening in Lahore (the 22nd of December), ‘SHARK’ (an improvisational comedy troupe) performed in an overcrowded auditorium in LUMS. 
The show truly superceded my expectations. 
While the concept of stand-up and improvisational comedy is relatively new in Pakistan, one did not expect [...]

By Sonya Rehman
The Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop (RPTW), well-known for the (rather large) hand that it plays in keeping art and culture alive and vibrant within Pakistan happened to face two major set-backs this year, at its annual World Performing Arts Festival (WPAF). 
Firstly, due to the prolonged security threats and bombs going off at every [...]

 
By Sonya Rehman
Draping its chilly, vast blanket over the cityscape, Lahore’s crisp winter arrived prematurely – this month in November.
Purchasing our tickets from the large, black, rectangular-shaped ticket-booth which sat just outside the main gate (on the curb) of Alhamra’s Gadaffi Stadium, we shoved our cold hands into our jackets and jean pockets.
It was a [...]

 
By Sonya Rehman
Originated from North India, Kathak today stands as one of the oldest art forms of dance in the world today.

(Above: Fasi-ur-Rehman)
And like its name – meaning ‘story’ (in Sanskrit) – Kathak is a dance which communicates. So much so, that as the dancer performs and narrates stories of love, loss, pain and joy [...]

By Sonya Rehman
There’s a very fine line between art and sensationalism. You see, it’s a lot like journalism – the more ‘out there’ and sensationalistic the subject matter, the greater the ‘impact’. From racy themes, wild brushstrokes, loud colours, and scandalous topics, art (like journalism) can often be tainted, exaggerated and made overtly vulgar to [...]

By Sonya Rehman
Having commenced from the 22nd of November till the 2nd of December, the World Performing Arts Festival (WPAF) drew to a rapturous end.
With the Qadaffi Stadium (in Lahore, where it was held) looking like a massive birthday present – with its pretty lights, banners, cozy food stalls, huge walking puppets, and the lovely [...]

By Sonya Rehman
For decades, music and fashion has seemed to have gone hand in hand – where a majority of ‘aural artists’ (of both the past and the present) have deemed it almost ‘necessary’ to manifest the personality of their music into what they wear, and how they wear it.
The examples are infinite: from [...]

By Sonya Rehman
Perched up on a stool, with a bottle of water and a glass within his reach, and a sole spotlight shining down on him, Irish man Abie Philbin Bowman looked every bit his part: as a detainee (apparent by his loud, orange-coloured prisoner suit) who looked an awful lot like Jesus.
This was evident [...]

By Sonya Rehman
Shop #162-G in Liberty Market, Lahore, is quite simply, a little shop of surprises.
The path to ‘Kabul Handicrafts’ can be quite a tricky one – unless you’ve been frequenting the backend of Liberty (the main cloth area) and know each passage (inside the plaza) like the back of your hand.
But lest you lose [...]