On Tuesday, the National College of Arts (NCA) inaugurated a retrospective exhibition titled Kahkashan Jafri: Looking Back 1990–2025 at the Tollinton Block. The exhibition, celebrating over three decades of Kahkashan Jafri’s evocative artistic journey, was formally opened by Professor Kamil Khan Mumtaz, a renowned architect and conservationist.
The exhibition is organised as part of NCA’s 150 Years of Excellence celebrations and features a sweeping collection of Jafri’s landscapes and figurative compositions. Her work, rooted deeply in the themes of nature, emotion, and memory, presents a powerful visual narrative shaped by personal experiences and broader global disturbances.
“Some artists want to make people think. I like to make them feel,” said Jafri. “For me, words never sufficiently express complex emotions. That is why I paint.”
Her process, as organic as the subjects she explores, involves what she calls “free play” with paint and brush. “I paint as though weaving each stroke, laying it next to another, the work gathering intensity as it progresses. Gradually, the form emerges,” she explains.
The exhibition will remain open to the public until April 21, 2025. Gallery hours are from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm.