Saba Khan’s Mangla Dam exhibition enters final weekend at Birmingham arts centre

London: The Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) in Birmingham has announced the final weekend of Riverless Water, an exhibition by London-based Pakistani artist Saba Khan that examines South Asian water histories and the migration and displacement linked to the construction of Mangla Dam in the 1960s.

According to details shared by the arts centre, Khan’s exhibition focuses on the human and environmental effects of the Mangla Dam in Azad Kashmir. The project, built on the River Jhelum, triggered one of the largest migrations from Pakistan to the United Kingdom after its construction and left a lasting mark on communities in both Pakistan and Britain, particularly in the Midlands.

The exhibition brings together 12 paintings with archival material, video interviews and drawings. Exhibition notes state that the works trace historical moments surrounding the dam’s construction, which led to the mass migration of people from Mirpur, Pakistan, to Birmingham.

Beyond the story of the dam itself, the exhibition also looks at textile mills, factories and the legacy of British colonialism in the post-Partition history of Pakistan and India. One of Khan’s paintings, Cars Manufactured in the 1960s at the Longbridge Factory, shows three cars floating on waves, an image that refers to the waters released by the Mangla Dam.

In a Facebook post, MAC said the work references the submergence of more than 280 villages during the dam’s construction, which displaced over 110,000 people from Mirpur and Dadyal. The arts centre also said the British government was among the project’s international guarantors and added that migrant status formed part of the settlement offered to local communities.

MAC further noted that around 70% of Britain’s Pakistani community originates from the Dadyal and Mirpur area affected by the dam. The exhibition also reflects wider historical developments, including the Indus Waters Treaty, while addressing the psychological experience of migrants through themes of loss and trauma.

Khan had initially been researching the movement of bodies in the French Alps before turning her attention to what it described as the bureaucratic complexities of Pakistan. Drawing on research from the Water and Power Authority (WAPDA) and local archives, she approached the subject through a more nationally grounded perspective.

She held her first solo exhibition in the UK in January. Her current show at the Midlands Arts Centre is scheduled to close on April 6.