You’re standing in the shadows while the artwork is illuminated by a single spotlight. Even the walls are dark. The atmosphere created for VM Art Gallery’s group exhibit, ‘Let There Be Night’ made viewers feel like they were walking through the night and catching glimpses here and there of expressions by a group of diverse and talented artists. The experience of attending this show further enhanced the absorbing artwork on display.

The artists whose works were featured included the likes of Amber Arifeen, Anushka Rustomji, Bibi Hajra, Khadijah Rehman, Khadija S. Akhtar, Mohsin Shafi and Noreen Ali.

Anushka Rustomjee’s hues of dark blues and greys, with a smattering of gold standing out against the shadows, in her surreal, vivid paintings of the sea and its creatures, blurred the lines between reality and fantasy.

Her painting Sea, Sermon, Story 2 (2022), acrylic, ink and gouache on paper, was a reimagining of the myth of divine trees from the Bundahishn texts. A lone olive tree, its leaves shining in gold, its branches morphed into fish sequestered in between branches, was an image which particularly stood out. The birds were representative of the doves that took a branch back to Noah as a sign of better things to come after the biblical flood had subsided.

The group exhibition ‘Let There Be Night’ brought to light secrets that are only revealed by darkness

Under a sky full of shooting stars, Rustomjee tried to show a tree depicting eternal life, hope, survival and perseverance. It morphed entities that live above the land and under the sea into one, and yet, in their depiction, they maintain their separateness. The doves sometimes appeared as fish with wings, but at another glance they once again appeared as doves.

In Sea, Sermon Story 1 (2022), acrylic, ink and gouache on paper, in the same dark hues of blue, grey and gold, the artist showed an ark on fire, under the entire monthly cycle of the moon. Here too Rustomjee explored the story of Noah’s Ark, both stranded and safe at sea.

Hajra focused on the spiritual, choosing to showcase her subjects in a hazy glow at twilight — when the sun sets and the moon rises. The subjects of her work were women at the shrine of Bibi Ruqayyah (Bibi Pak Daman) in Lahore. Through the elongated shadows, she showed a world that is otherwise veiled and inaccessible to the casual passerby — the world of women. The women huddled together, engaged in devotional practices, child care, storytelling and simply existing. This was an extension of the work the artist is exploring in a series where she’s hoping to find the meaning behind the concept of a ‘paak daman’ [unsoiled woman].

In his stunning works for ‘Let There Be Night’ Shafi showed off his “adventures of insomnia in cosy winter nights,” according to the artist himself. His artwork leapt out at the audience, with pieces set on top the work in order to give a 3D effect. Almost as if his subject wanted to be released from the confines of the canvas.

His work involves mixed media, and the pieces are first printed, cut-out, painted and then given their final form. Set upon a cool, blue, cerulean and grey backdrop, the psychedelic subjects stood out due to the warm tones of yellow, orange, peach and pink, with his artwork depicting both a dream and a nightmare.

His installation had everything, ranging from a circus performer, to a bride, a malang, a hippie and two desi women locked in an intimate embrace. The understated outrageousness with which it was created forced you to pay attention and kept you returning to the piece to find more. Shafi’s installation was definitely one of the highlights of the exhibition.

‘Let There Be Night’ blurred the lines between reality and fantasy, the natural and the supernatural. The artwork at the exhibition was secretive and clandestine, yet illuminated what we may not see when there is light everywhere. This was the kind of immersive experience the exhibition aimed to provide and that is exactly what viewers got.

‘Let There Be Night’ was on display at the VM Art Gallery, Karachi, from December 15-31, 2022

Published in Dawn, EOS, January 1st, 2023