Veera Rustomji



Unmaking History

The Research & Publication Centre
Lahore, 2019



Unmaking History was an exhibition curated by Natasha Malik, Laila Rehman and Saher Sohail:
Curatorial text:

“Can history be conceived of as something that is in a state of fux? Can existing notions of what history is, whom its narrators have been and why it is so, be disrupted?

Unmaking History examines the power structures and hierarchies that have constructed our collective pasts, and works toward unraveling the hegemonic narratives which have led up to this critical intersection in our historical trajectory. Under this premise, the exhibition examines alternative histories alongside those existing histories that have been constructed through dominant perspectives.These perspectives are essentially incomplete.Predominant systems such as colonisation, patriarchy, racial discrimination and capitalism have produced displacement, suppressed voices, violence and marginalised communities among other outcomes. Moments of erasure within these byproducts of embedded systems, and their undocumented presence, at this juncture, require urgent inspection.”
These three silk curtains were designed  in 2019 when I was living in London, studying for my MA in Fine Art at the Chelsea College of Arts.

 Over several weeks, I was dressing up and putting on the outfits of easily identifiable, uber-masculine men portrayed across film and literature. By playing this game of casual cosplay, I attempted to adopt the roles of ‘larger-than-life’ heterosexual male characters such as James Bond 007, Indiana Jones, and a Royal Admiral. With the pictures I had taken of myself in these roles I was looking into the illusions behind power, mobility, and sexuality which are embodied by both fictional and real men who are characterised repeatedly in popular culture. By choosing recognizable backdrops such as the MI5 building, The British Museum, and Victoria Park, the compositions were intended to explore the deceptiveness of tourism and the way London is presented as canonical in terms of history, art, and films. 

Digital prints on polyester, 118.11 x 56.3 inches, 2018