Written by: Shameen Arshad
Posted on: August 28, 2023 | 
| 中文
Bar Aks by Irfan Channa
“In the tiniest of stirs” show at Chawkandi Art gallery, Karachi, is a deliberation over the interconnectedness of the world, where a slight change in one sphere can lead to monumental changes elsewhere, a phenomenon better known as “the butterfly effect”. This idea has been explored and interpreted in numerous ways by 11 artists namely S.M. Khayam, Abid Aslam, Arslan Farooqui, Asif Ahmed, Irfan Channa, Hamza Bin Faisal, Marjan Baniasadi, Mirza Zeeshan, Onaiz Taji, Rahat Ali and Syed Hussain.
One can say the exhibition shows how an artwork can be decades in the making, keeping in mind the inspiration behind it, the experiences that lay down the foundation of its subject matter and of ideas or even techniques employed that have been passed down through generations. Thus, the exhibition while discussing the human condition as a product of different ages, also reveals the act of creating capable of transcending different time periods.
Robella Ahmed, the Curator of the show, has put together works that represent the delicacies of human nature, the subtleties that we experience, that which lies beneath the surface or even the manifestation of intangible emotions. The show documents the aspirations, outlook and perspective of the artists and the community they belong to. They not only share their personal narratives, as they reflect on their upbringing, experiences, stories and habits, but in doing so describe an entire eco system.
In congruity with the temperate title of the show, many artists stuck to creating simple visuals. The weight of the subject matter has been intelligently encompassed in light imagery, instead of with the help of very busy compositions and heavy embellishments.
Agha Hussain’s portrait of a child, though simple on the surface, possesses an unnerving sense of silence that makes its home in the neat and structured composition. Through this seemingly ordinary portrait, he weaves the narrative of loss, despair and injustice in our society. The barren land could stand for many things; the feeling of vulnerability, symbolic of a future bereft of hope and growth, or the artist’s own disenchantment with the society. The child holds within her small frame a crushing sense of loss, of a stolen childhood, joy and the shared pain of the Hazara community.
Untitled 11 (Children series) by Syed Hussain
Hussain’s linear representation of ghost-like figures holds as much attention as the immaculately rendered foreground, showing the power of simple line drawings. Furthermore, his mention of a specific date in the background firmly grounds the illustrated landscape into reality. It makes the viewer acknowledge the heart-breaking narrative as authentic and of many actual “humans”, rather than a fantastical character in a fictional world.
Onaiz Taji’s creative process embodies a dichotomy. The artist uses single line drawings to construct elaborate compositions. The artwork makes one think of the idea of singularity/plurality in many ways, whether it is about seeing the line as a basic unit of construction of all images or the more obvious idea of individualism within a community. The “individual crowds” within the landscape further reinstates the paradoxical nature of the image, where each figure is illustrated as independent of the other, yet in the larger schemes of things, he/she is just a miniscule part of the bigger picture.
Tafreeh gah by Onaiz Taji
Unlike, Taji who constructs his space centred around the human figure, Irfan Channa’s landscapes are doused in natural sensibilities, without the presence of the physical human form. The human sentimentality is preserved via the sepia tone and soft application of graphite on paper, that instantly makes the viewer understand the artist’s yearning for the past. The coffee-stained drawings exhibit nostalgia for fleeting landscapes, much like Thomas Hardy’s excerpts about the majesty of English moors during the industrial revolution. Rahat Ali also deliberates over the past, more specifically the countries’ rich fluctuating culture heritage. By reinventing historical artefacts in hybrid forms upon his paper, he does his part to preserve the old and revamp it into something suitable for contemporary times, highlighting how these artefacts are very relevant to South Asian lives today. Also, his use of materials such as stone dust and ash that literally come “from the land”, enhances this act of preservation. Thus, Ali through his assemblages represents the South Asian identity as being an assimilation of different layers of time and cultural influences.
Untitled 1 by Rahat Ali
Mirza Hussain has given tactility to human emotions through abstract marks that give the illusion of dancing across the surface of the canvas. The use of geometric patterns, however, adds the particularity of space within the work, pinning the ubiquitous emotions down to a particular context. The seemingly effortless mark making levied upon the calculated geometry, perhaps hints at the coexistence of amorphous human sentiments and desires within a structured and systematic society. However, in “the battle within”, the lack of the structured background shows the triumph of human emotions over order and rationality.
Tangled emotions by Mirza Zeeshan Hussain
Abid Aslam’s elaborate pieces, unlike the others in the display, reveal the versatility and resplendence of images, with relatively simple subject matter. The use of reflective surfaces and striking gold leaf surfaces, pulls the attention of the viewer towards the act of image making. The process can be seen in congruity with the theme, as small uniform marks made via cyclical hand movements construct a larger picture. It is the repetitive, unromantic labour of punching small holes into the surface that gradually lead to carving out of extravagant imagery upon the surface. Thus, the meditative quality of the technique can be seen as an imitation of transition in most of the natural world.
Undying III by Abid Aslam
The exhibition opened on the 25th of August and can be viewed till the 2nd of September, 2023.
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