KARACHI: Capturing a moment to impart timelessness to it requires skill that does not solely depend on technical prowess but also relies heavily on the capturer’s aesthetic life view. The allusion is to the art of photography. Witnessing an exhibition of nine noted women photographers’ work titled ‘Kam Sukhan’ that began at the Indus Valley School Gallery justified the notion that photography is an art of extracting an unforgettable story out of a short-lived scene.
Shalalae Jamil examines faces in spaces in her ‘Big Time Sensuality’ series. This means while the face the artist has focused on remains at the epicentre of her artistic pursuit, it’s the location, not locale, which is equally important to understand the subject.
Qurutulain Khalid through ‘Umeed-i-Subh’ examines the bleakness that surrounds things in general and human existence in particular. She does that by nicely exploring the darkness within and without.
Insiya Syed tries to turn the quotidian into the extraordinary in ‘Unabridged and Unpublished’. The old woman, someone the photographer knows very well, at the sewing machine is an exhibit that invokes many feelings – compassion, affection, empathy – at the same time in the viewer.
Adeela Badshah comes up with a striking body of work and titles it ‘Ghunghat’. The thin veil that she makes her subject stand behind, in a manner of speaking, and not hide behind beautifully brings out the charm of the female form sans showing any signs of fragility. In one image, the eyes of the subject following the viewer give off both coquettish and menacing vibes.
Nazia Akram explores the architectural splendour of different parts of the world and keeps true to their grace and grandeur. The black and white pictures in the series titled ‘Compass’ emphasise the buildings historicity quite convincingly.
Mahwish Rizvi in ‘Constant Bad Faith’ strives to examine life under stress. According to her statement, she is inspired by existentialism therefore the question of ‘existence precedes essence’ can be detected in her work.The title of Lali Khalid’s work is ‘With Each of Us Inside Me’. She pays tribute to women by highlighting their inner strength. But it is the intelligent use of light that puts her subject against a nature-loving backdrop and sets her exhibits apart.
Farah Mehbub touches on the topic of silence in ‘Khamoshi Sunn’. She nicely employs text to go along with images that may look incomprehensible but actually depict the struggle against adversity that women experience in their daily lives.
Khaula Jamil salutes unsung heroes, the working women of the country through her series called ‘Shana Bashana’, and does a pretty good job of it.
The exhibition will continue till June 8.
