KARACHI: The word ‘ankahi’ in Urdu reminds us of a famous lighthearted TV play penned by Haseena Moin. The meaning of the word: ‘unsaid’. In the context of an exhibition of artworks made by Munawar Ali Syed, which is under way at the Canvas Art Gallery, the word has serious connotations. The connotations are to do with the life that we lead as citizens of big metropolises and its contrast, if not clash, with the nature-infused life that we now only associate with the past.

Let’s get down to brass tacks. Munawar in his statement informs the viewer that his ‘Ankahi’ comprises four independent installations and metaphors in the form of a dialogue based on his ‘ecological concerns’. His concerns are genuine. But the remarkable thing about the show is that his craft, his talent rather, is so engaging that his concerns, oddly, take a back seat. For example, the piece called ‘I saw it once in China’ cannot be overlooked just like that. It’s a huge exhibit made of plastic toys, motherboard chips and resin. What is it? It’s a huge animal, a bovine. The animal is an extremely embellished one. It has a posture that hints at the fact that it’s not a readily tameable creature, because the animal sits with a fair degree of panache. Even the profusion of toys and chips doesn’t diminish its stature. Now this is a significant point.

The artist is trying to tell us that we are so taken with all those things that urban life has crammed us with that we tend to ignore the bigger picture –– nature. Respecting nature allows our growth to take place in a more organic way.

A similar concept is dealt with in a totally different way in the ‘Ankahi’ series (carving on old story books). The idea of a book in a world that’s increasingly moving towards the Kindle version of texts is fast becoming passé. And it’s not a good sign. How do we revert to all things natural, things that have a soul, so to say? That’s the question that is most pertinent in this day and age.

The exhibition concludes on Aug 25.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2018