Dis-Location Series, 2007

In this series, Rana creates a series of works that simultaneously affirm and counteract the viewer‟s notions of perception. Working within the structure of the grid, the series uses small, time-based pictures from Lahore‟s crowded urban environment to create large-scale nostalgic, apparently historically accurate re-constructions of the same locations. The paradox contained in the work is that the still, ethereal images of these buildings are actually made up of tiny pictures taken in front of the buildings during a complete 24-hour period. In this sense, the structures in the Dis-Location series serve as a physical remnant, a residue of the frenetic activities of humans who move in and around them.

Though the final images Rana creates in the Dis-Location series seem to read as historicized documentary photos, they are actually built from the collection and rearrangement of constant kinetic action. Rana creates a fictionalized reality by portraying entities that are constantly immersed in chaos, decay, disorder and fragmentation, yet presents them as whole, timeless, static and complete.

Visually, the blurring of lights and movement of traffic give the work a painterly quality and seem to alter the spatial and temporal environment of the work. Even the larger zoomed-out image of Dis-Location 2, though purely digital, is evocative of a charcoal drawing.

In showing random video stills from the street, Rana also presents a portrait of urban, post-colonial life that simultaneously transcends both the clichéd portrayals shown by Western media and patriotic narratives.