KARACHI: Those who have a keen interest in philosophy and the various issues that the discipline touches upon would be familiar with the phrase ‘Cartesian doubt’. It is to do with the eminent philosopher Descartes, hence Cartesian, who thought of it as a process of being sceptical about the truth of one’s beliefs. One doesn’t think that artist Huma Mulji, an exhibition of whose latest body of work titled Skyfall is under way at the Canvas Art Gallery, is implying the same kind of scepticism through her exhibits. It can be said with a fair degree of certainty, though, that her effort has philosophical vitality to it.

Here’s why this topic has come up. Mulji in her statement says about her artworks, “The efficacy, limit and expression of doubt are made deliberately visible in these works. They speak to the editorial process of removal and recalibration as inquiry. The doing and undoing, writing and unwriting, labour and futility … are rendered both productive and critical here. They speak of censorship and self-censorship, observing the act of transformation and the infrastructure of power.”

The context is unambiguous. The artist is talking about the environment that she’s a part of, which is why the words censorship and power resonate the loudest from her statement. But let’s subtract something from her explanation. Seeing her remarkable dozen or so pieces, especially the series ‘Ode to the Piano Pen’ (digital embroidery on cotton and denim) and ‘The Notebook’ it can be inferred that she is hinting more at the process of self-censorship (self-policing, if you like) than censorship. Because this is what unbridled power does to you: it can, through its machinations, create a doubt not in society as a whole but can also divest an individual of self-belief. That being said, this has a flip side, too — a good one at that: the process provides fodder for creative souls to shine through. A case in point is Mulji’s work. By making the viewer see the erased part of texts and subtexts, she’s enabling them to visualise life in a clearer way.

The exhibition concludes on Dec 24.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2020