Uncover the stories behind the faces with Shabir Baloch and Hussain Jamil

Two artists highlight human dependency and shared suffering of people

KARACHI: Every face tells a story, every emotion captures a reality. The focus on human imagery in the works of Hussain Jamil and Shabir Baloch endeavours to unmask this human reality.

The context behind the depiction may vary in the works of the two artists but it proves to be the two sides of the same coin. Their works are being exhibited at the Full Circle Gallery.



Depicting dependency

Jamil's portrayal of human faces reveals the habits they tend to develop in their daily lives. The common feature among all his sketches is the focus on the mouth. He depicts addiction to capsules, tooth brushes, lollipops, cigarettes among others.

According to Jamil, these habits tend to highlight the dependency that human beings develop. "I researched for a bit to understand what habit goes best with what expression," he said, while speaking to The Express Tribune.

The pencil work in Hussain's sketches only fine-tunes the expressions of his characters, which the artist claims are based on people he knows. Two of his sketches that catch attention depict a group of people posing with two contrasting expressions. His work titled 'Cry Out Loud' shows the group posing with disgruntled expressions while in the other, titled 'Laugh Out Loud', they are seen expressing joy.





Shared suffering

In contrast, Baloch deals with the complex relationships that develop between humans during duress and highlights the irony of human misery. With his roots in Balochistan, the artist has experienced his share of violence and suffering.

In one of his oil on canvas paintings, titled 'Landlord', he depicts the internal migration in which people clinging to their belongings are seen boarding a truck. According to Baloch, this painting is poignant in portraying the irony of this situation.



Although these people are landlords, but violence unleashed against them has forced them to flee their land, he said. "Nothing is funnier than unhappiness," said Baloch explaining his works. "On the surface there is nothing to be happy about but, subconsciously or rather in the background, someone finds it funny."

To further explain his point of view, he pointed to his painting titled 'Celebrations'. The painting depicts a man carrying an earthen pot and struggling with his donkey-cart but he is surrounded with rose petals. The petals highlight the mock celebration of the man's misery.

The exhibition will continue till February 15.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2016.