Last year, three artists travelled across Pakistan to capture the country’s majestic landscapes.
From golden lavender sunsets and rocky banks against imposing mountains, to cerulean blue waters and enveloping, ethereal clouds, each of the artists' impressions of Pakistan’s countryside are on display at a new exhibition at Dubai's ICD Brookfield Place.
Titled The North, the exhibition, in partnership with Dastaangoi Gallery’s residency programme, aims to showcase the diversity of the country's landscapes and the varying perspectives of the three painters – Saara Knapp, Phoebe Stewart Carter and Louis Szapary.
“Whenever you think of Pakistan, you don't necessarily think of these mountains, you don't think of nature,” Amad Mian, curator of The North and Dastaangoi Gallery's co-founder, tells The National.
“We wanted to create a bridge between the West and the East, between Pakistan and other parts of the world.”
Mian also wanted the artists to capture the natural landscape as it slowly changes due to the impact of climate change. Last year's floods, which claimed the lives of more than 1,700 and affected 2.2 million more, occurred only weeks before the residency began.
Knapp, Stewart Carter and Szapary travelled across Pakistan over 10 days in September last year. Accompanied by Mian, their journey began in Batakundi, a town in the Kaghan Valley, before heading to Hunza, a mountainous valley in the northern part of Gilgit-Baltistan.
Along the way, they passed villages such as Nagar and Gulmit, and explored landmarks from Attabad Lake and Passu Glacier to Rakaposhi, a mountain of the Karakoram range.
Throughout the journey, they stopped to sketch or paint the scenes, sights and histories of a country none of them had visited before.
“As an Austrian, I have an affinity for mountains, and Pakistan has some of the most gigantic and magnificent mountains and landscapes in the world,” says Szapary, whose two paintings in the exhibition illustrate his fascination with atmosphere and light.
“I'm used to big mountains in Europe but the mountains in Pakistan that we saw are literally twice as high. And the intensity of everything was quite overwhelming.”
His paintings, Passu Glacier and Passu Cones at Sunset show a unique combination of capturing detail and the vastness of nature – a tricky combination to balance.
“I love these two things and they are the most difficult things to reconcile,” he says. “Putting a lot of detail on the mountain, but still making it feel like it's far, that's the most difficult part – and the most interesting part too.”
The artists created little sketches and quick paintings while on the road. These studies were then used to create the larger works for the exhibition.
“It becomes something that almost transcends a single moment, it becomes like a grander feeling of a place,” says Knapp.
“It's impression but impression with intention. It's not only reactive; there has to be some kind of thought behind it.”
The Finnish-American artist’s style is captivating. Her two works, Attabad Lake at the Golden Hour and A Portrait of Rakaposhi Mountain, reveal her ability to recreate a landscape and are a representation of an existing place and her impression of it.
“The water was incredibly challenging because I wasn't using a specific moment of time,” she says of Attabad Lake at the Golden Hour.
“I ended up reading a lot about the reflections of water, how light would travel through water, at what angle and different techniques in order to make it look closer to you in the foreground and farther away in the background.”
Stewart Carter also painted a piece titled Attabad Lake, though from a different perspective.
Nestled in the distance between the mountains, golden light spilling in the background, the lake has a ghostly glow, acting as a focal point for the eye of the viewer to settle on.
The lake was a touch point for both artists due its recent history.
Attabad Lake was formed in 2010 as a result of a landslide, which destroyed several villages and displaced thousands. Today, it attracts many tourists from across the country and region, but for Stewart Carter, its unsettling history was a reminder of the contrasts that lie behind Pakistan’s countryside.
“It was a beautiful trip, but there was always that feeling in the background that a lot of these places are disappearing,” she says.
“Attabad Lake is this most amazing lake with this incredible blue. I've never seen anything like it. You have this weird juxtaposition of beauty, and then a little bit of horror.”
Stewart Carter’s other work, Path to Passu Glacier, reveals her keen eye and interest in the varied types of landscapes that exist in the region.
“It was incredible when you see these varied landscapes, completely hidden from what I knew," she says. "A lot of people in the West do not know how beautiful it is there."
The North is running at ICD Brookfield Place, Dubai, until September 23
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Teams:
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
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Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
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- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
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Founded 50 years ago as a nuclear research institute, scientists at the centre believed nuclear would be the “solution for everything”.
Although they still do, they discovered in 1955 that the Netherlands had a lot of natural gas. “We still had the idea that, by 2000, it would all be nuclear,” said Harm Jeeninga, director of business and programme development at the centre.
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The energy centre’s research focuses on biomass, energy efficiency, the environment, wind and solar, as well as energy engineering and socio-economic research.
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The Indoor Cricket World Cup
When: September 16-23
Where: Insportz, Dubai
Indoor cricket World Cup:
Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE fixtures:
Men
Saturday, September 16 – 1.45pm, v New Zealand
Sunday, September 17 – 10.30am, v Australia; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Monday, September 18 – 2pm, v England; 7.15pm, v India
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Sunday, September 17 – 2pm, v South Africa; 7.15pm, v New Zealand
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Thursday, September 21 – 12.15pm, v Australia
Friday, September 22 – 1.30pm, semi-final
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Starring: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeon, Gemma Chan
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Jumanji: The Next Level
Director: Jake Kasdan
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UK
Innovator Founder Visa is aimed at those who can demonstrate relevant experience in business and sufficient investment funds to set up and scale up a new business in the UK. It offers permanent residence after three years.
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Canada
Start-Up Visa Programme allows foreign entrepreneurs the opportunity to create a business in Canada and apply for permanent residence.
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The specs: Hyundai Ionic Hybrid
Price, base: Dh117,000 (estimate)
Engine: 1.6L four-cylinder, with 1.56kWh battery
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power: 105hp (engine), plus 43.5hp (battery)
Torque: 147Nm (engine), plus 170Nm (battery)
Fuel economy, combined: 3.4L / 100km
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Student Of The Year 2
Director: Punit Malhotra
Stars: Tiger Shroff, Tara Sutaria, Ananya Pandey, Aditya Seal
1.5 stars
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now
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The biog
Favourite food: Tabbouleh, greek salad and sushi
Favourite TV show: That 70s Show
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Name of first pet: Eddy, a Persian cat that showed up at our home
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Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers
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704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.
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List of officials:
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Umpires: Aleem Dar, Kumara Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Ian Gould, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Sundaram Ravi, Paul Reiffel, Rod Tucker, Michael Gough, Joel Wilson and Paul Wilson.
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Tottenham 4 (Alli 51', Kane 50', 77'. Aurier 73')
Olympiakos 2 (El-Arabi 06', Semedo')
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
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Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
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Male 69kg: Paulo Miyao (BRA) bt Isaac Doederlein (USA); 2-2 (2-2) Ref decision.
Male 77kg: Tommy Langarkar (NOR) by Oliver Lovell (GBR); submission.
Male 85kg: Rudson Mateus Teles (BRA) bt Faisal Al Ketbi (UAE); 2-2 (1-1) Ref decision.
Male 94kg: Kaynan Duarte (BRA) bt Adam Wardzinski (POL); submission.
Male 110kg: Joao Rocha (BRA) bt Yahia Mansoor Al Hammadi (UAE); submission.
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
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- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
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- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
The biog
Hobby: Playing piano and drawing patterns
Best book: Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
Food of choice: Sushi
Favourite colour: Orange
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Torque: 300Nm at 1,900rpm
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