ne wonders at first what binds the 22 artists from the No-Mad exhibition at Full Circle Gallery, Karachi, to one another. Is it their approach towards image making, similarity in technique, response to tradition, common ground, linked concepts, shared concerns, or something else? Perhaps it’s just the curator, Shanal Kazi?

The way the works by artists from different backgrounds, locations and institutions and having different experiences were installed made those contribute towards creating a strong narrative of otherness. However, one presumes that the participating artists may not have been fully conscious of this, clear or in control of this interpretation. Kazi, like any imaginative and ambitious curator, discovered a new meaning in the works and highlighted it by selecting, showcasing and arranging them in a particular order.

There were some surprises, like coming across the impressive works of Changez Khan, who produced mixed media pieces with unusual imagery. The three works by Khan varied in terms of their visuals, but were connected through his aesthetic choices, underscored by a preference for strong and pure colours, popular imagery and industrial material.

Khan’s Blobs of DescArt consisted of the Latin text, “Cogito ergo sum”, the famous remark by Rene Descartes meaning: I think, therefore, I am. Changez Khan translated the French philosopher’s famous quote in pictorial language (besides referring to his name in the title), not only by inscribing the letters on a square panel, but twisting it in such a scheme that it could be read as: I see, therefore, I am. The Latin letters were constructed out of mirrors, surrounded by daubs of three primary colours – the source of every colour shade. In a way, Khan proclaims that the act of seeing guarantees the existence of a visual artist.

Two other works by Changez Khan also showed his unique approach. The work titled Mushroom, Flower, Feather, Star, Life, in a sense resembled the aesthetics of NFT, but the non-fungible token like piece that can be decoded, is fabricated with reflective tape on board encased in epoxy. Its title, more like a description, alludes to something concealed – the image of a question mark. Another work, Play Safe, was a print of painted toy soldiers and a clay heart. Intriguingly, the extended arm of a soldier holding the bow (or a shovel?) echoed the most seen image of love – the heart pierced by an arrow. Along with the popular diction, it is the presence of three primary colours that connected the work of this exciting artist.

A similar tendency for fabrication and chromatic selection was seen in two installations of Syed Faraz Ali. Both Boats and Planes recall the basic structure of bending paper to make these vessels, a practice every kid is familiar with. Covered in diverse colours, the boats and planes somehow pointed to the period of Covid-19, particularly the travel restrictions attached to it.

Both Boats and Planes recall the basic structure of bending paper to make these vessels, a practice every kid is familiar with. Covered in diverse colours, the boats and planes pointed to the Covid-19 lockdowns, particularly the travel restrictions.

The phase will be remembered for protecting face, hands and objects of human use, through masks, gloves and sanitising fluids. Erum Akhtar’s paintings with bodies wrapped in transparent sheets, and Yusra Taqi Allawala’s canvases portraying individuals hugging themselves, or clutching a piece of fabric (bedsheet?), could be associated with the age of angst caused by the pandemic. The period in our recent past is associated with fear of others and views of abandoned surroundings.

The experience of Covid-19 also taught us to look at locations without human beings; and appreciate and respect their being independent of human presence. Employing the shades of greys and blacks, and with layers of gold leaf, Mehreen Fatima constructed spaces without people, but which occupied memory, recollections, nostalgia – personal or collective, experienced in the art of miniature painting and in the writings of Intezar Hussain. The painterly visual components, the sophistication of tonal gradation, the sensitive selection of marks, turned her two works, Finding Peace in Chaos and Home Away from Home, into subtle comments on the past and the present, two time zones that are never disjointed.

Two divisions of time, or separation of hours – from day to night – melted in the paintings of Kiran Waseem. Scenes of urban areas at dusk or dawn were painted in oil on aluminium sheets; making use of the reflective material to denote the glow of pale light. The works partially rekindled a line by Faiz Ahmed Faiz. In his poem, Zindaan ki Aik Subh, the bard sketches an unforgettable landscape: morning slowly emerging from the night; in his words, the prolonged embrace of day and night (Raat aur subh buhat deir galay miltay rahay).

The meeting of different entities was a motif in the art of Raheela Abro, too. In her mixed media assemblages, Owl and Rooster, she, in a super naturalistic manner rendered fowls, with rooster’s egg (shells) placed inside the edge of frame; and two marbles balanced next to the image of an owl. The marbles were supposed to represent the bird’s eyes, since one notices a small patch painted on its eyes – apparatus that has the ability to see during the darkness of night. This work may be read as a political comment – or otherwise. This is also true of the paintings of Sundeep Kumar.

Kumar has been investigating the emblem of national identity – disguised as national currency. In the past he has painted over Pakistani coins with visuals and references of all sorts. In the recent show, he overlapped the head of the coin with varying sections of a donut. Starting with a bite size, it occupied three quarters, till it spread to the entire circle. Concealing the crescent and the moon, as well as the official name of the republic. Kumar’s works – named Overlap 2a, 2b, 2c can be examined in reference to globalisation and its effect, imposing Western models (eateries, delicacies, delights), and altering the identity of a nation, in matter of state as much as culinary tastes.

One tends to agree that the group exhibition (held from 7^th to 16^th December), in the words of its curator Shanal Kazi, was “based on notions that question the role of achieving freedom through resistance to construct an identity, for ourselves and our place in the unforgiving fog of an ever demanding, pretend free world”.

Ironically, it was fog in Lahore that forced me to extend my stay in Karachi and enabled me to see this extraordinary display.

The writer is an art critic based in Lahore