Mujtaba H. Naqvi is a multimedia artist residing in South Texas. Born in Karachi, Pakistan in 1977, he was encouraged to consider even the smallest creatures by his parents. He was also greatly influenced by the social and political injustices he witnessed growing up in one of the most densely populated urban centers in the world. Those early experiences, paired with those gathered upon moving to the Rio Grande Valley in 2004, give him a unique perspective on society, more specifically the forms and types of oppression that are found globally.
These themes can be seen in his early work. This includes written pieces for JANG, Awam, and various other publications as well as in Boyz, a television series he wrote and acted in in 2002, that aired on ARY Digital in 60 countries. They became more dominant during his work toward his Associates of Fine Arts, which culminated with a capstone entitled, Reign of Oppression. This digital photography triptych portrays the oppression of women by society, culture, and religion.
Other similarly themed works include Saadia, an oil on canvas, which was displayed at the Upper Valley Art League in Mission, Texas, and Dollar a Day, featuring two 26x30 digital photographs displayed at the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art. This diptych, which depicts the weathered face and manual labor of fishermen in Karachi set against the backdrop of McDonald’s golden arches, was priced at a dollar each to highlight the injustice of undervaluing the labor of certain bodies in our capitalist global society.
He has been working on Species at Stake since 2016, and has taken thousands of digital photographs of South Texas wildlife in an attempt to document the countless creatures that are currently in danger due to human actions. Most of these animals, though integral to our ecosystem, are easily overlooked, and thus oppressed, because we do not interact with them on a daily basis. Naqvi enlarges the portraits to help the audience fully visualize, and thus realize, these lives. When possible, Species at Stake is exhibited on the floor as an interactive exhibit, such as at the National Butterfly Center, to force the audience to question why they are often more uncomfortable walking on photographs of living creatures than on the creatures themselves.
His work has been displayed at The Greater Mission Chamber of Commerce, The Border Theater, Speer Memorial Library, Bentsen Tower, Chase Tower, Leonor Almaguer Allstate Insurance, and numerous other locations throughout South Texas. Species at Stake is next scheduled to be featured at Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge, Pharr Public Library, Valley Nature Center, and the National Butterfly Center, where the display will be enhanced with QR codes to websites and/or audio of the respective species.
