KARACHI: One remembers reading the following line in a book that had the word maps in its title: “All great artists know that part of their task is to light up the distance between two human beings.” The question is: what is the function of a map? Well, it shows the physical features of a piece of land.

The title of a two-person exhibition Imaginary Shores, which is underway at the Chawkandi Art Gallery, talks about maps as well, but in a visually insightful way. It involves both an effort to diminish the faasla between living beings and to comprehend the nature of locales where they find themselves placed at a given point in time.

The participating artists, Ayesha Amjad and Fatima Zahra Hassan, have used their training in miniature art to the hilt by imparting their artworks grace and poise that elevates the subject matter to an inspiring level.

First, let’s see that the curator of the show Nusrat Khawaja has to say about the whole exercise. The last paragraph of her note reads: “Both artists pose the question on how our dwelling, within our repository of imagined and experienced phenomena should be mapped. Rivers and skies, anxiety and uncertainty, are linked in a chain of circumstances with permeable and impermeable boundaries. By mapping the chain, the artists connect us to the broader schematics within which we locate and recognise ourselves as contextualised characters.”

Notice how the space between the tangible and the intangible is being minimised here. Rivers are tangible, anxiety is not. Characters are tangible, their recognition is not. This is exactly what Ayesha and Fatima achieve remarkably well. If on the one hand, their quest for the divine through solid symbols is noticeable, on the other hand, their hat-tipping to the superb art created over the centuries is unmissable. Achieving so, the chain that the curator hints at becomes visible. In that regard, Ayesha’s ‘Water Body with Palm Trees’ and Fatima’s ‘I am a Flower’ series are worth visiting and revisiting. Cool stuff!

The exhibition concludes on Dec 24.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2024