Art display: Artworks depict diverse thoughts

Exhibition brings together works of Samina Islam, Salman Hassan, SM Raza

ISLAMABAD: An exhibition of the works of three artists opened at Rohtas Gallery on Tuesday.

The participating artists are Samina Islam, Salman Hassan and SM Raza. Titled ‘Individual Context’ the exhibition features eclectic art pieces, created from mix media and depict a diversity of thoughts and creative expression. Through their individual bodies of artworks, the artists explore various media such as thread on digital photo prints on canvas, photo etching and screen printing.

Hassan and Raza explore the emotions that are evoked by urban spaces, while Islam depicts her inner feelings and thoughts about child molestation.

“My work is not literal. I want it to be thought-provoking and intrigue the viewer,” said Islam, who was the only artist present at the exhibition.

Showing embroidered surfaces shaping up into the figure of a girl, each of her pieces tells a story. Putting her passion for photography to use, she has printed the photos on large canvases and hand-stitched over them to add layers and textures.

The artworks explore themes such as urban life in solitary, enclosed spaces, and social issues like child molestation. PHOTOS: HUMA CHOUDHARY

Raza, in his artist’s statement, said that as a citizen in an urban culture, he had realised how people lived entirely in their own enclosed, solitary spaces and remained oblivious to the world passing them by.

“The visuals I have created in different themes, area depiction of emptiness, sadness and isolation that we become engulfed by,” he further said in his statement. His acrylic paintings, with their morose tones of
grey, white and black, speak of an unspoken loneliness in a large city.

Meanwhile, Hassan’s art pieces border on the abstract, exuding an ethereal feel. Like Raza, his work also revolves around emotions evoked by space, isolation and memories.

“We tend to create a space within a space triggered by emotion. Our deepest memories can be brought to surface by the slightest feel of an object, fragrance or even sound,” he said in his artist’s statement.

Using symbols of fish and arbitrary fragments, he delves into the world within to explore his subjects through the medium of art. The exhibition will continue till November 30.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2014.