GHULAM MOHAMMAD (Pakistani, b. 1979)
Untitled
2014

Iranian Ink and Paper Collage on Wasli
12 x 10 2/4 in. (30.5 x 26.5 cm).

A Pakistani artist who catapulted to international prominence in 2016 when he was the first artist from that country to win the coveted Jameel Prize, awarded by The Victoria & Albert Museum, London. GM as he is known, creates incredibly delicate collage works that are assemblages of Urdu letters painstakingly cut from secondhand books bought in the markets of Lahore. For him carving out words and recomposing them has a cathartic effect. He speaks five languages and is fascinated with language that creates boundaries that limit communication. By freeing up language from the page and attempting to reconstruct it, he strives to enrich it with a new aesthetic meaning.