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Today's Paper | November 27, 2024

Published 27 Feb, 2013 03:44am

A different kettle of fish

KARACHI: During World War II, a famous Hollywood film studio known for popularising certain cartoon characters made propaganda movies for the US army. Apart from that, cartoon masks were designed as a measure to save the civilians from chemical warfare. This prompted some artists to depict the situation through their artwork. Some succeeded, some did not.

Artist Syed Faraz Ali in an exhibition of his latest sculptures titled Darkhuast Bara-i-Indiraj, which is under way at the Art Chowk Gallery, has used the concept with tremendous effect and has in fact gone a step ahead. His artworks touch on the current theme of the US invasion in Afghanistan and the war that raged on after the ghastly 9/11 attacks.

The artist throws an indigenous motif into the scheme of things: the chainak (a tea kettle). Anyone who is familiar with our part of the world will instantly know that the kettle plays a ubiquitous role in the everyday life of the Pushtuns. Mr Faraz has employed it as a weapon of war. This does not imply that there is an inherent shortcoming in the pot or container, rather points to the politics that is involved in the ostensible economic side to it. This is evident from the very first piece in the exhibition titled ‘Hidden Truth’ (stainless steel and glass). The dollar bill that the viewer can see in the mirror attached to the kettle is self-axiomatic.