Making this Fort is an ambitious project, especially since the buildings within span the tastes of four generations of Mughal Emperors.
I don’t know what possessed me to try to make the Naulakha (or the Queen’s Pavillion). Maybe it’s because this is one of the smallest monuments in this Fort, or maybe because I had the most pictures of it from my former research. Either way, I jumped into making it and have been editing it for a month to make it feel right.
Finally though, I feel like I’m making a breakthrough. First, I started making sense of the patterns, then I spent ages fiddling with the proportions of the building to make it sit better. And, because I need to keep modeling in Blender to really build that muscle-memory, I added in some rough side-buildings too. (No arches or pillars in those yet, I’m still making really ugly ones!)
I found this image online and have been referencing it to see where the patterns go.
Now, please be kind about the patterns and stuff, all of this is taking me way longer than normal! But, as I said, I’m taking today’s progress as a win!
This is where I was a month ago…The first render once I applied the latest textures… no real lighting in the scene.
The first of the Great Mughals, Babur was the orphan king who ascended to the throne as an 11-year old. In the decades that followed, he experienced great strife and turmoil, but his unbeatable spirit won the loyalties of armies and followers across Central and South Asia.
Despite not having concrete measurements to officially start builing elements of the Fort, I decided to go ahead and see if I could solve the (inevitable) issues of creating this monument before we get started.
This has led me through quite a process! I build things, hate them and build again. I’ve had a similar experience with the process of creating patterns.
This is what happens when you don’t really look at the pattern you’re trying to mimic.
I’ve been playing around for a while, trying to get a grip on the insane number of patterns that adorn almost every surface of every building inside this Fort. Even trying to create a single interior roof calls for upto 7 sets of patterns and trim variants! And this doesn’t even include the frescos!
Still, every journey begins with a first step, and now I’m starting to build some momentum here. Having gotten the hang of working in Blender and starting to crack the code on how to build Mughal-esque architecture, I’m starting to see some patterns turn out.
A small sampling of pattern work from the Fort.
Keeping it simple to begin with, I started with borders… because then I didn’t have to calculate designs in four directions.
Now, I’m starting to make things more complicated:
I was also able to create a singular replica of a little section of floor tile in the building I was creating.
I’ve updated this post twice already, and I will stop here. However, it does occur to me that I need to really start organizing all of my assets, or I will lose these base designs and have to recreate them going forward!
After a couple of months of just writing about the Lahore Fort Project, I finally decided to go back into 3D and try to make something!
This was harder than I expected.
There are a million components to everything, and literally every surface has some new and intricate pattern all over it! Even as I try to simplify the process by breakign things up into modules, this building… probably this Fort, will totally give me a new set of grey hair!
The camera move is dumb, but I couldn’t just do a single image!
It’s finally looking a bit like the actual building… but alas, I’ve barely started applying the patterns in here.
The Mughal Empire holds a great significance in Pakistan, being the last Islamic Dynasty to rule this part of Asia before the British occupation in the 19th century. Unfortunately, much of what was created in this era was undermined as part of the British Divide and Rule policy, and this ridicule has been internalized and preserved in how Pakistan remembers its history today.
It is this very lack of historical “ownership” that affects our post-colonial psyche. Forever feeling overshadowed by their shiny neighbours, constantly embarrassed to be Muslim, Pakistan lives its life like a surly teenager who refuses to take a haircut because they’re afraid their acne will show. Our ancestors are “not cool like the West” and “India got all the good stuff” is the running sentiment of the nation. Nothing we do is good enough.
The goal of the Lahore Fort Digitization Project is to reclaim Pakistan’s historical narrative by re-examining our history and re-cataloging our historic sites, starting with the Lahore Fort.
Aerial Photograph of the Lahore Fort in Pakistan – Photographer Unknown
The architecture housed in this Fort today represents the evolution of the Mughal Empire in the contributions made by four successive emperors in the dynasty. It represents the golden age of Islamic rule across Central and South Asia and how their individual philosophies have contributed to the arts and culture of modern day Pakistan and India.
The Mughal Emperor Akbar rebuilt the original Lahore Fort on a grander scale when he established Lahore as the capital of the Mughal Empire in 1566. A contemporary of the other great Mughal Forts in Delhi and Agra, this fort is equal in scale and design and house such architectural gems as the Shish Mahal (Palace of Mirrors), the Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque) and the Naulakha, a marble pavilion studded with delicate pietra dura using semi-precious stones.
The Naulakha Pavillion in The Lahore Fort – Photo by Atia Newman
Perhaps most significant is the location of the Fort. In the historic city of Lahore, this Fort forms one side of a quadrangle, facing the iconic Baadshahi Mosque, with a Hindu Temple and a Sikh Temple placed between them. This shows how these Islamic emperors respected the right to personal religion, so much as to embed their beliefs into the layout of the capital of the Mughal Empire.
The Emperor Akbar famously incorporated animal sculptures in the architecture of his General’s Quarters. His court policies were aimed toward creating an inclusive atmosphere for his non-Muslim generals, ministers and constituents.
The Mughal Emperors lived fascinating lifes and represented varying degrees of fidelity to the religion. Yet, even across this range, each Emperor was consistent in their basic family values, respect for other cultures, and their unwavering support of the arts and education.
In the era of the Mughal Empire, learning and culture were placed at the forefront. Some say that the literacy rate across the empire was as high as 90%, based on the number of people who could read Persian, Sanskrit, Hindi or Arabic. Perhaps unsurprisingly, mathematics was a universal skill across the subcontinent. However, all of these statistics were nullified after colonization, as the British did not consider non-English speakers to be literate at all. It was, sadly, this erasure of existing achievements that started the decline of the Muslim populations in India.
The Lahore Fort was at the heart of the Mughal Empire for almost 150 years. Rediscovering this monument could provide us with new insights into the workings of the Empire that created such a lasting impact in the region. By reconnecting this past to our present, we can hope to start repairing the negative image of Muslims and Islam that exists today.
“Sometimes going back to the beginning is the only way.” ― Rachel Hauck, Once Upon a Prince
After two decades of meandering through various art media and exploring a number of philosophical avenues, I seem to have come full circle back to a project that has suddenly evolved into a whole new animal. But before I can explain the what, I have to explain the why:
I come from a culture that is, in many ways still trying to define itself. From the initial days of living the dream as the Land of the Pure to the almost immediate drop into harsh reality, Pakistan lost critical momentum in establishing the ideals for which it was created when we lost our Quaid-e-Azam (Father of the Nation). The subsequent years of experiencing extreme political interference from the Soviet Union and the US created a space where a number of competing factions attempted to gain a foothold, further destabilizing this fledgling dream.
Having been raised outside of Pakistan, my teenage self struggled to find something great about Pakistan. My parent’s families were incredibly patriotic. They talked about the sacrifices that were made by millions, to be part of a country where Muslims could be safe and free. They dreamed of a country that lived up to the ideals that govern our religion: of education and logic and peace. They worked every day to uphold the values and live up to the ideals that Pakistan was made for.
Yet outside of my home, all I saw around me was division and self-centeredness. Everyone judged each other on the basis of religion, sectarianism, economic status, beauty… it didn’t matter what. As long as you were a Pakistani in Pakistan, you were not good enough. This misery was further compounded by our history books and by the western media, which either couldn’t tell us apart from neighboring India, or, just called us backward terrorists. Torn between wanting to believe my parents and the prevalent negative narrative, I internalized the negativity. I figured my family was one of the few delusional families left that still tried to justify the creation of Pakistan. Everyone else knew better, so should I.
Then, years ago, I wrote and illustrated a book that explored how the architecture of the Lahore Fort represented a visual evolution of the Mughal Empire in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Obviously, this took me into new realms of research, beyond the cursory few paragraphs that cover the Mughal Empire in any schoolbook. My parents, (eternally supportive of our education), planned a trip to Lahore and arranged to grant me access to restricted areas of the Fort, so that I could see for myself, the scale and grandeur that my culture had left behind. It was a seminal experience for me to realize how impactful this empire was, and how much they revered art, music and education. How their philosophies upheld the teachings of Islam and represented the kind of respect that should be shown to those from other beliefs.
The Mughal Empire holds a great significance in Pakistan, being the last Islamic Dynasty to rule this part of Asia before the British occupation in the 19th century. Unfortunately, much of what was created in this era was undermined as part of the British Divide and Rule policy, and this ridicule has been internalized and preserved in how Pakistan remembers its history today.
In my talks with the guides and authorities tasked with managing this monument, I learned that the British Armies had looted and ravaged all the monuments of the Muslims when they took power. They stabled horses in the royal courts and gouged out jewels and semi-precious stones from the sides of buildings. They wanted to destroy us, and our people not just physically, but emotionally, and wipe away any claims to greatness that we might have.
Pillar base from the Lahore Fort’s Naulakha from which semi-precious stones have been carved out.
As many of our monuments from this era fall into further disrepair, our youth and public are further removed from their connection to the past. I was lucky, I had parents who were educated and dedicated to my success. They taught me to question the norm and instilled in me the principles and the strength to believe in myself. It took me years to crystallize this into a clear theory, but I got there.
It is my own experience which makes me realize how important these monuments are. The lack of historical “ownership” and ignorance is what allows external negative portrayals to settle into the psyche of our youth. This increases incidences of extremism, lawlessness, a lack of empathy for their fellow man and an extreme lack of self-pride and civic sense. Without positive reinforcement, it’s easy to live down to everyone’s expectations and teens and young adults are the first to fall prey to such manipulations.
The goal of the Lahore Fort Digital Preservation Project is to reclaim Pakistan’s historical narrative by re-examining our history and re-cataloging our historic sites. Using 3D digital visualization technology to do this, we aim to preserve and (virtually) restore the monuments of the Lahore Fort in a medium that will be attractive and accessible to all, especially our youth. For a population with an average age of 21.4, using an interactive gaming method to communicate with them seems obvious, almost mandatory.
By bringing this project to Pakistan, I plan to train students of animation in the tools of virtual creation while simultaneously teaching them to understand and explore our past with an unbiased eye. By bringing CG colleagues with me, I hope to forge academic and professional relationships between Pakistan and the US. And, by publishing this, I hope to create a safe neutral space where Muslims (and non-Muslims) can learn more about these Islamic rulers, free of the preconceptions of western narratives.
Now, more than ever, we need to create content that humanizes our culture and history. We need to create bridges to prevent the disturbing “otherization” that is occurring around the world and find ways to help cultures communicate. We need to actively undo the damange that was done to us and rediscover the best of us.
In an unexpected turn of events, it seems I cannot move forward with the Dynamic Addis. So I am redirecting current explorations and revisiting the graveyard of ideas and projects from my past.
I’m sure every artist has one. The place where you keep those projects that were “finished” but never met your standards, or the great idea that didn’t fit the pitch outline, or a concept that was too big or too complex for that time and place. These ideas are saved on napkins, sketchbooks, notebooks… digital or analog, it doesn’t matter, because we have sparks like these a million times a day and the only hope of ever making them a reality is to save them for the right moment.
This was one such moment. More than 20 years after the original research project, I have finally found the solution to my biggest peeve about my original presentation.
Trying to present something like the Lahore Fort in a book form, with a selection of (comparatively) tiny photographs was the greatest limitation of that time. Now, years later, it finally hit me. I am no longer constricted by the size of a printable page, or a printable photograph.
A chapter-divider from my book on the Lahore Fort. Copyright Atia Quadri
As an animator, I can present this world on a big screen. Even better, I can make it a 360 or VR space and really immerse my audiences into this experience! And what better time to do it, when the need for positive representation of Islamic cultures is at the forefront of every conversation!
Working on this project was an eye-opening experience for my teenage self. I learned so much about my culture that was never taught in a classroom (and it should have been).
Now, as an educator myself, I realize the onus is on me to educate the students of today. I have to remember that I cannot treat teaching like a job where I just demo some tools and call it a day. Teachers/Professors can make more than worker drones, they can create and nurture thinking, breathing human beings! And the only way to do that is to show them the possibilities and connect them to their past.
Five years after it’s first launch, the Iroquois Creation Story (or ICS for short) is enjoying a mini-revival in 2020. With the sparking of a brand-new (old) conversation about diversity in animation and appropriate cultural representation, this project is being used as a prime example of how to respectfully represent the ideology of a nation.
Having recently given a talk on the topic of cultural appropriation, I discovered how, the more terms like “representation” and “appropriation” are bandied about, the less clear they seem to become.
Yet, in the creation of the Iroquois Creation Story we can see how possible it is to bring forward the beliefs and values of a culture without subverting it in the name of “artistic license” or stylization. Animation, like any other field of art, is merely a tool for communication and can adapt to represent any ideology.
Firstly, this film was first imagined and conceived by G. Peter Jemison, Native American artist and representative of the Seneca Nation of Indians and the manager of the Ganondagan State Historic Site. A prolific artist himself, he contributed heavily to the concept art that went into the preparation and design of this film.
As the Director of Animation (and a non-American), I could not rely on my previous stereotypical knowledge of Native American culture to design this film. It took some conscious education and examination for our creative team to deprogram ourselves from pop-culture stereoptypes. It could be so easy to justify arbitrary choices as the “rules of animation” or the “rules of character design”, but the goal of this film was to get it right, not make it easy.
So we relied heavily on the art and feedback of G. Peter Jemison, and did our best to translate the core essence of his imagery into the animated medium. Using the work of the very talented New York City-based concept artist Patricia Raubo, we built the cast of characters that would appear in this story.
Left: Original art by G. Peter Jemison. Right: Concept art for ICS by Patricia Raubo
Every character and each significant prop in this story was researched to truly understand its place in the film. Because we understood that even though the casual viewer would very likely miss such details, our core audience, the Iroquois Nation, would notice and hopefully, appreciate them.
Reference Images and Iroquois Creation Story Moodboard. All artwork by G. Peter Jemison.
With the script inspired by Chief John Arthur Gibson’s publication of the Iroquois Creation myth and the concept art in such fine state, one might expect that our adherence to representation was enough. But once you’re on the road to creation, it’s tough to stop.
All of the actors cast in this film were native Haudenosaunee speakers, so as to ensure cohesiveness in the characters, and the film was scored by award-winning composer Brent Michael Davids (Stockbridge Munsee).
Then, using the recorded dialogue we were given, our animators were directed to represent their best interpretations of their characters. These animations were then re-edited to match mannerisms and styles across characters and sections, so that each character could be believable as the owner of their voice.
This was the most significant part of my job. I was already rigging all of the characters to be animated in the film, but as the animated sections started filtering back to me, I ended up being the shadow-animator, cleaning up and refining the gestural quality of the characters.
This may sound confusing to non-animators, because why on earth would it be necessary to change or clean up someone else’s movements? But like in any collaborative process, the most difficult thing to do is create cohesion, and acting in animation is a big area of concern. Imagine asking Al Pacino to narrate one line of a story, and then asking Bruce Willis to step in for the next one. They can do their best, but their personalities can’t help but shine through. So, in order to tame this Pacino-Willis divide, I stepped in as the unifying force to ensure each character maintained continuity across sections.
Thus, when the film entered its final stages of completion, even the seemingly disparate parts came together because we had stayed faithful in color scheme and design and held each medium of animation to that standard.
Before I finish, I’ll leave you with one final thought: every film is different, and it may be impossible to duplicate the circumstance and resources that we were able to pull together for this story. But the one area that will always deserve extra time when creating a story from another culture, is your own mindset. By throwing out our “rules”, we created possibilities. By opening our development process to the culture we aimed to represent, we created authenticity.
At the end of the day, the authenticity is what drove this production and allowed it to be completed successfully.
Cultural representation is fast becoming the Topic of the Century.
Everywhere we look, we see calls for representation, inclusivity and diversity in media. This is such an important movement in our history because it is making people of all cultures aware of the invisible price they pay for not participating in a global conversation.
To be fair, many cultures have not been allowed a seat at the story-telling, history-writing table. In fact, much of what we know about many cultures is knowledge assimilated and filtered through the lens of their colonizers and detractors. And only recently has it occurred to many of us to start questioning the sources that we gain information from.
In fact, that is the primary crux of this post, because as we start to explore how to bring other races and cultures into the public eye, we see a growing backlash against filmmakers representing cultures that they themselves do not belong to.
First, let’s be clear: Representation is important, because the world is made up of more than just a single race and that should be visible in all forms.
However, it is important to remember that there is more than one valid point of view in the world. The way Representation falls into Appropriation is when one cultural point of view is co-opted and used to advance the theories and concepts of another culture. Sort of like how Colonialism works.
Take, for example, Terrorism. Every decade since WW2 has brought us a new set of shows, movies and media that have held up and vilified individual cultures for a variety of reasons. The Germans are anti-semitic (or just evil incarnate), the Russians are conniving commies, the Japanese are crazed Kamikazes intent on world domination… so on and so forth. Since 9/11, it has been the Arabs and the Muslim world being represented as misogynist haters of all things good in the world.
This means, that even though each of these cultures is/was “Represented” in media, their culture is appropriated in a manner that makes them look bad, and promotes the prevailing theory of the time that the entire race is evil. Let’s remember that one man’s terrorist is very likely another man’s hero, and that these labels are entirely subjective.
Image found as a meme on the internet, artist unknown
Does that mean that a Director cannot make a film about anything other than their own demographic? Dear Heavens NO! It also doesn’t mean that Directors cannot criticize any culture other than their own either!
The real issue with Appropriation is not about who makes it, but rather, about how arbitrarily they Represent the other culture.
And it might be easy to say “hey, there are a bunch of movies/shows/stories out there that completely vilify white culture too”. Except for the fact that there is such a high volume of work that represents such a variety of white culture and ideologies, that any negative representation is tempered by the many works that add nuance and compassion for said culture.
This is true of Indian cinema too, which is an industry that regularly produces the highest number of films per year. There is such a high degree of representation of Indian culture in the world, it is hard to imagine Indians being vilified with a shallow label.
To add insult to unfair representation; artists and filmmakers from underrepresented cultures are often encouraged to create work that reinforces existing negative stereotypes. It is tough to pitch a “heartwarming coming of age story” in an alternate culture without being told that there isn’t really a market for such rosy drivel. No, because nobody is willing to imagine that a happy story can exist in the burnt tundras of desert dwellers or that happiness can exist in an imperfect world. So the only artists who get funding and global attention are the ones who trade on their identities for a shot at fame. After all, any representation is better than none, right?
That is the insidious nature of economically-dependent art. Toiling away in obscurity can feel like a jail sentence, and after a while, it becomes easier and easier to adapt your vision to start appealing to the masses. Yet, artists must realize they are not just representatives of culture, they are responsible for educating society of the ideals that they want to live up to. Artists can build bridges and bring hope and empathy into the world. But if we bind them with restrictions in the name of progress, even in the name of diversity, we are doing them a disservice.
It doesn’t matter who makes the art, it matters how they make it. Do they care about the culture they represent? Do they know enough about the culture to call it out? Is it fair to use their art to tar and feather an entire culture? When it comes to underrepresented cultures, Art has to bring perspective to a conversation, not rely on sad, one-line cliches and unremitting criticism.
There is a lot more to Appropriation than just the terrible misrepresentation of cultures in mainstream media and in art. But this is not a topic that can be summarized in a nutshell. We see Appropriation across the gamut, in fashion, design, music and literature. It is insidious in how quietly it can sneak up on a person, and the best way to fight it is to expand the conversation and move it past the limited description of who made it. Let’s include the why and wherefor and really start looking at whether our art is helping or hurting another.
The videos are starting to come up, and the art work is building. I’m super excited and at the same time I feel like I should be producing more. I’ll get there, I always do, but it’s interesting how the productivity graph is never a nice, predictable line.
Some of this must be from having grown up in Pakistan. I can’t remember a time when my life wasn’t interrupted by “real life”. Things like, sitting down for a geography exam, only to have it interrupted by an emergency evacuation because a bomb threat was called in. Or, trying to meet a deadline when monsoon season hits. Two days of rain and 5 days without electricity can really hamper productivity, and yet, Karachi manages to prevail against all odds. Karachiites prevail, in spite of the broken infrastructure, the violence, the heavily intertwined social lives that demand that you stop and care for your loved ones no matter what.
The idea that a person can work “no matter what” is an unrealistic and soul-destroying concept, because we are not robots, and no amount of discipline can make us that way. The trick here, is to find that organic way of working so that all the work that needs to be done, gets done.
This is what I’ve been forced to discover since Oct 1st. Good news though, I’ve actually still managed to do things. Bad news, I haven’t recorded it as well.
But that’s okay! Nobody can do everything all the time. Staying realistic is the best way to ensure productivity through an extended period of time. And, breaks are important. As quite a few people have reminded me, I’ve been going a 101 mph since 2012, and I need this sabbatical. Not only to kickstart my work towards a new set of research goals, but also to reboot my creative self so I can be enthusiastic and not crazy.
