In the series Banainge Pakistan (We will build Pakistan), Alia’s use of the flower is symbolic. The tulip’s history stems from Persia and Turkey – representing true love, it was first cultivated as early as 1000 AD. It was appropriated much later by Western Europe and the Netherlands in the 17th Century, where it ostensibly turned into a symbol of capitalism as tulip mania spread all over Europe. Essentially, the tulip was displaced and appropriated. Furthermore, what it represented in the East is in direct contrast to what it came to represent in the West.

Alia’s tulip prints speak of this dichotomy and are juxtaposed with both sinister as well as more commonplace elements of everyday life – highlighted by her use of newspaper clippings. Life always seems to go on, with the good and bad moments very much a part of our lives whether we accept them or not. Every human life is important and every life is connected to many, many others who are in turn affected in some way. The tulips in this series represent individuals and the tapestry formed by human relationships.

Alia Bilgrami’s artworks contain fragments from a personal sense of dislocation, endeavouring to portray the dichotomy that exists when you have both a sense of belonging and of being scattered all at once. The notion of displacement is a topic that has featured extensively in her practice. Initially using a cardboard box and maps to visually translate the feeling, her work has shifted slightly in terms of both imagery and resonance. Settling on the tulip as a symbol to represent displacement in her artwork, she uses labour-intensive media such as photo emulsion, analogue photography, contemporary miniature painting and solar plate etchings.

In her recent practice, Alia expands her traditional and highly skilled technical approach through a poetic contemplation on the fall of capitalism globally and how its pieces come apart locally. She holds an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins, London, 2010, where she won the Cecil Collins Memorial Award, as well as a BFA from the Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture, Karachi. Her first solo show, Tulipmania was at the Rohtas Gallery, Islamabad, 2011. Alia has exhibited extensively in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and internationally. She is currently a curator at Khaas Art Gallery in Islamabad, Pakistan, where she lives.