Emotions and expressions: Photojournalist offers the beautiful face of Karachi to viewers

Athar Khan is showcasing his works at Alliance Francaise till Sunday

KARACHI: The faces were painted white. While all three had red lips, each had different eyes — green, blue and yellow. It was like seeing supernatural forms in the dark.

The play of colours was remarkably captivating and the photograph was the favourite of many visitors. The contrast of red, green and blue was enriched with the help of the black background. But there was more than colour and contrast that caught the eye. It was the juxtaposition of three different kinds of emotion in one picture: curiosity, happiness and sadness.

Photojournalist Athar Khan brings out the best of emotions in each of his photographs. Using light to his benefit, he creates perspective and contrasts differing hues against one another. Fifty-seven of his masterpieces are on display at Alliance Francaise de Karachi.

Talking about this particular piece, Alliance Francaise director Jean-Francois Chenin said the composition was beautiful and had a touch of impressionism. "In French, we say il a l'oeil, meaning he has a good eye," he said. "It's just very beautiful." The four-day show openedin the presence of Khan's family, friends and colleagues on Thursday. All the photographs on display have been published in The Express Tribune.

TetraPak director Hussain Raza inaugurated the show. During her introductory speech, The Express Tribune reporter Rabia Ali described how Khan began photography in 1988 and later went for specialisation to Wolf University, Atlanta. Being his colleague, she thanked him for making her stories complete with his photographs.

"I covered this story with Athar. She is the woman whose husband died in the Baldia factory fire," said Ali, pointing towards the picture of a teary-eyed woman against a dreary, grey background. "Athar has the gift of capturing human emotions. He makes our stories complete."

Talking about the element of emotions in Khan's photography, his wife, Rizwana Yasmeen, described her favourite shot. It depicted a beautiful, bejewelled bride wearing a wide smile on her face with the eyes closed. "Her expressions are what catch my eye," she said. "Do you see how happy she is?"

An interesting part of the exhibition was that, even though Khan is a photojournalist who covers all kinds of violent protests that take place in the city, not even a single photograph on display depicted violence. All the works of art revolved around culture, customs, religions, politics and the famous trademark of Karachi, Sea View.

"They depict the heritage that is fading away," said the TetraPak director. "They remind me of my childhood when we all used to be excited about Eid Miladun Nabi. Today, we don't have time to celebrate such occasions but the photographs remind us of the great value of celebrating our cultural values."

Besides customs and culture, some photographs expressed messages of peace. Looking on your right as you enter the gallery, you find the picture of a man painting huge letters in red, forming the word 'peace' on a wall. This picture was that of a wall art activity taken up by students of Institute of Business Management and showed the positive side of Karachi.

Another interesting aspect offered by the exhibition was 'texture', as pointed out by a photography student at Alliance Francaise who requested anonymity. Pointing towards the picture of two men standing on sand, he appreciated how well Khan has used light to his benefit. "He has played with sunlight unknowingly," he said. "Khan might have wanted to show the labourers working in this heat. But, as a viewer, I will remember the texture of this sand in the sun."

Khan works as a photojournalist for The Express Tribune. The show runs till June 7.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2015.