Mahmood's four-part exhibition which she titled "...till all are healed," is on now at the AGM, and works in the series Flowing River, Lotus of Thanks are by local artists whom she asked to paint thanking frontline workers. These works were up for auction to raise money for the pandemic's frontline workers: "to both say a broader thanks and provide income for local artists."
Part of my discussion was on Mahmood's cultural bias where:
The majority of the entries, 20 of the 27 (74%), of the works exhibited were by South Asians, with two white women who have South Asian last names - and are South Asian by extension."Lotus of Thanks" is an odd choice for a title. But while Mahmood is Muslim, she interacts with the Indian subcontinent's general culture, where the lotus flower is important (here is a photo of her and her husband after the Hindu festival Holi).
I got an email alert for updates on painting sales for this auction.
There is only ONE sale, with only one bid, at a generous $1,000 (the starting auction price was $100). And this by a non-Mississauga, non-"South Asian," resident - Madeleine Lunney. As far as I can find out about Ms. Lunney, she is (a White Woman Savior?)...
Working to create a more just and inclusive world free of poverty and violence. I want to continue to work with people I admire on projects that make a real impact. I am passionate about getting more people excited about what the community/non-profit sector is doing and why it matters.
Lunney runs a consultation firm to "help Canadian and international non-profit organizations."
And here it is, the $1,000, the only, bid, and bought: Birds of Hope by Thaniyat Siddiqui.
Mahmood's "Lotus of Thanks" auction tanks.
Mahmood runs through the Mississauga landscape with a frenzy of activities, imprinting her Muslim/Indian/Pakistani culture, as though she is entitled to the place, however effusive she may appear at times.
There is a telling interview of her on a documentary films her brother, Arshad Khan's confessional. I found Abu completely by chance on the documentary channel. I recognized the name Arshad, and watched the whole program.
Arshad Khan is a Montreal-based "South Asian" homosexual. Somewhere near the middle, Arshad talks about his family, and in particular one who "immigrated" to Canada, bringing with her a stream of relatives, including him.
This is none other than Asma Arshad Mahmood.
Khan talks about being molested by male family members while he was a young boy (a toddler), which set off years of molestation. His tragic story finally culminates with him seeking solace in "consented" male molestation - as a homosexual.
Mahmood appears in the video, where she shockingly reveals how she herself was molested, by unidentified male family member, when she was also a very young girl.
This molestation was known by the family at large, including Abu's wife, but was kept hidden, and quiet, to prevent public humiliations of these seemingly upstanding members of the Pakistani community.
I wrote of Mahomod's strange paintings, with unidentifiable figures, their faces muted and "hidden."
Surely, this is a reaction to her trauma.
And I wonder in what other ways this trauma manifests itself, besides her frenzied activities to bring "art" to Mississauga: the art and culture she left behind in the country that betrayed her.
This multi-culti depository that Canada has become brings us such people as Mahmood, whose inner turmoils we can only begin to fathom as they are (may be) revealed in discreet confessionals meant for minuscule audiences. I happened to be on of the tiny percentage who caught her words.
I was not wrong about my assessment of her paintings:
Mahmood's paintings are ephemeral sketches of barely-there people.
Above is Mahmood's untitled painting: a dark image suggesting night, where a male figure lies next to and holds (with giant fingers) an unidentifiable, obscured (blacked out) object, which he is also looking at.