Beaconhouse National University is known to its students as a place to learn subjects and courses ranging from clinical psychology to business and journalism to architecture, but to many in the outside world it is mostly known for its School of Visual Arts and Design (SVAD). With the added difficulty of having to come up with a thesis display, from its inception to its fruition, during the Covid-19 pandemic, students gave it their all. Graduating students displayed their thesis work from July 12 to 16. It was titled the SVAD Degree Show. The graduates had to show what the time they had spent at the BNU amounted to; they did not disappoint. My focus is to shed light on the works that stood out the most from the Visual Communication and Design (VCD) Department.

Mono Consciousness by Zainab Hussain was a frame-by-frame, hand-drawn animation projected onto holographic screens, with mirrors on either side to make the small darkened booth feel expansive. The observer remained aware that they were actually in a small booth. Her work presented the concept of consciousness as one thing all people possess. All types of experiences – encountering the supernatural or the divine, the reality-warping effects of psychedelics, or the experience of everyday life, in which we interact and play with objects and connect with other people – exists within this one conscious person, the Mono Consciousness. The eerie music in the dark booth and the highly enunciated narration can put anyone in a trance. Hussain said she came up with the idea after being inspired by Buddhist symbolism of mandalas, the five aggregates (consciousness, form, perception, sensation and fabrications) and writers like Aldous Huxley. “Everyone was talking about the same thing, the same idea of one consciousness, so I pieced it together,” she said.

Then there was Usman Saulat, whose work Get in the Flow was a multi-model, interactive installation that got everyone in the flow, literally and figuratively. In his youth, Saulat was fascinated by the natural beauty of the land, the thought of being able to play instruments and come up with his own music. He made a bucket list of places of natural wonder that he would one day like to visit. His answer to the longing was to build a room that allows you to make your own music by moving your hands in front of a screen. As you play, the scenery displayed on the screen changes and realigns. He said he wanted to give the audience the power to create music and feel the emotional impact of nature. He didn’t want this experience to be limited to musicians or travel photographers. So, he came up with this idea, taught himself how to code, made an algorithm, mapped out the gestures and linked those to tone these gestures could play. He then made a pitch-accurate music scale. Lastly, he extracted sound particles from 2D images, taken from satellite imagery, that would shift according to the notes played. As the exhibit was viewer-focused, the viewer got the feeling that the world around them changed as they waved about their arms.

Of course, not all artistic inspiration comes from profound ideas or childhood dreams. Sometimes, it comes from your pet. Finding Baabi is Sarosh Qadir Butt’s way of telling people wracked by anxiety that they can find comfort too. Baabi is Sarosh’s cat, who lifts her mood every time he is with her. Sometimes though, Baabi disappears, making Sarosh anxious about his well-being, and so, she has to find Baabi. Sarosh has developed a video game with seven stages or levels that map out the player’s journey to overcoming emotional stress and finding comfort. The game follows a linear progression, engrossing the player in a world where they can find their own Baabi and overcome their stress. Successive levels are set up on different computers. The exhibit stands in a small booth, in which square, coloured boxes protrude from the walls and LED lights flash different colours, immersing the player in a virtual world she has imagined. Sarosh says that in the real world, people have to follow a set of guidelines, norms and rules that tell them how to conduct themselves in every situation. In the game, people can forget about those restrictions and immerse themselves in the virtual world of Baabi. In Pakistan, which has a staggering anxiety and depression prevalence of 33.6 percent, and where Covid-19-related lockdowns have not been kind to people’s mental health, Finding Baabi, a game one can play with one’s friends, provides a hopeful outlook.

What is art, if it is not provocative? Shameen Imran’s work looks at the celebrity worship culture. Her shining, glamourous and eye-catching presentation identifies six emotions under the umbrella of para-social relationships in which one invests emotional energy and time while the person towards whom this energy is directed is utterly unaware of it. She drew six pictures in an attempt to visualise the six emotions in the para-social exchange. Imposters (acting like you are the star), was inspired by Instagram models hiding behind masks. Fandom Warriors (people fighting for and defending the celebrity that they like on social media) were depicted on two sides of a table, fighting over likes and comments, with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian standing in the middle - a hilarious way to put it. The Hate Mob (where there is love, there is hate) included irate aunties, an internet maulana sahib and people who like to voice their opinions anonymously on the internet. Next came Celebrity Worship that showed West sitting on a platform in an enlightened-looking robe, with the “worshippers” in front of him, praying for something in a Buddhist-like manner (a chance at recognition, perhaps). Finally, there was Emotional Labour, in which fans were pumping out likes and hearts to boost their favourite celebrities, like in a Chinese sweatshop. Imran said that many people who looked at the work either felt attacked or said that “I’ve done this, but I never thought consciously about it.”

The Pakistani TV audience is obsessed with game shows and romantic dramas. Ask anyone if they’ve watched Zindagi Gulzar Hai, Humsafar, Jeeto Pakistan or anything by Tariq Aziz. It is about time that someone thought of combining the two and made a dating show out of it. That is what Jumana Mehdi did. She took mythical beings and creatures from folklore from all around the world and put them in an adult dating show. It had creatures ranging from pichal peri to gods like Zeus with a chance at love. Designs in the display were inspired by webtoons. Mehdi built a stage for them to battle it out as Pakistan’s first mythical sweetheart. A podium was erected near the centre to make it look like a place where the host stands. “I added some from Gilgit, where I am from,” Mehdi said, when asked about her choice of characters and design. “I thought I should focus on a few characters so that you can really indulge yourself. The audience should want to know more and wait for more volumes to come out.” She wants people to recognise the character archetypes found in dating shows – a shy character, a boastful character, a kind character, etc – and identify the common theme of a longing for love.

There were many more displays that addressed themes like social issues, personal experiences, scientific exploration and the impact of new technologies. The event was the culmination of the graduating student’s time at BNU-SVAD. Biologically Alienated by Alina Waheed Satti gave gender studies and the ideas of authors like Gayatri Spivak a visual form. Gearheads could learn a thing or two about designing a futuristic bike from Burraq by Affan Javaid. The Odyssey of the Outer World, by Hammad Yousaf, was amazing to read and the art was immaculate. Some displays seemed too mundane for an art student and failed to inspire awe. But despite the two-year pandemic, online classes, working from home, closed resource shops and limited access to equipment, SVAD students outdid themselves this year. One wishes the next year’s graduates the best, for the bar has been raised and the expectations set higher.

The writer is a student of psychology at BNU