KARACHI: How can one describe as ethereal a thing as the soul? Strangely, even many of those who don’t believe in the spiritual aspect of life don’t deny its existence. It is because the idea of having a soul in itself lends meaning to quite a few phenomena that one finds meaningless. Artist Shireen Kamran’s latest series of artworks put on display in an exhibition titled ‘Soul Matters’ at the Canvas Art Gallery is an attempt at turning the intangible into the tangible, albeit without missing out on the charm of intangibility.

The artist gives away her intent in ‘My Soul is a Woman’ (mixed media on canvas). The exhibit has specificity, which, in a manner of speaking, can make the viewer think of it in a one-dimensional way, because some of the images in the elaborate artwork go with its title. But it would be a mistake to interpret it in the next piece ‘The Way of the Soul’ (mixed media on canvas) as Shireen Kamran propels the viewer into an aesthetic space of a different kind. There is a hint of the body in the painting, just a hint; the rest is as airy as one can think of the soul.

The artist expands her canvas, literally, with the diptych ‘Rue Barree’ (mixed media on canvas). Here she ups her game by coming out of the physical confinement of the topic she has chosen and creates a whole scene out of a single image. However, the scene may well take the viewer back to thinking about just one picture.

The show will close on April 3.