Since its founding in 1987, Karachi's V M Gallery has undergone a truly astounding transformation. The gallery was started under the aegis of the M A Rangoonwala Trust, with the aim of building an artistic space for Pakistan. Originally housing only a single downstairs gallery which a caretaker would unlock for the occasional viewer, it is now a thriving centre, with three galleries and a 600-seat auditorium, completely redesigned to accommodate large-scale local and international exhibitions.
The gallery has been actively promoting art in Pakistan, engaging with the media as well as the larger audience within and outside the country. The gallery's director Riffat Alvi has been at the forefront of the development of the modest art space into a multipurpose art centre. Alvi, being an artist herself, has been attending residencies and exhibiting abroad for a considerable number of years. This practice among Pakistani artists has been a contributing factor to the growing interest abroad in the country's art, bringing curators from around the world. In the other direction, artists such as Aamir Habib, also a political critic, have been invited to send their works to Europe. Recently, the gallery brought together over 150 local and foreign artists for the First International Print Biennial in September 2014.