KARACHI: According to a well-known idiom, beauty is only skin deep. It suggests that for a human being what matters most is his/her character, not physical appearance. In this day age, with the democratisation of voices, the idiom cannot be confined to a single connotation. There is more to it now. For example, the physicality of a person has become one of the focal points for the artist community all across the world. It is in this connection that a group exhibition titled Skin Stories at the Canvas Art Gallery assumes significance.

The show, with seven artists’ works on display — namely Natasha Malik, Yasser Vayani, Abdullah Qureshi, Rabeya Jalil, Scheherezade Junejo, Khadija S Akhtar and Amna Rahman — is curated by Emaan Mahmud.

In the first paragraph of her curatorial note, she writes: “This exhibition interrogates the ways in which gender roles and objectification are constructed, enforced, and sustained within society. It examines the commodification of identity and embodiment, questioning who benefits from these rigid structures and how they have evolved over time. How does the enforcement of gender norms intersect with capitalism, advertising, and social media? Who decides what is deemed desirable, and what are the psychological and social consequences of constant surveillance on gender expression?”

There’s a lot to mull over here, primarily because the curator has touched upon some pertinent points with reference to the 21st century. The way the capitalist mindset and the unbridled and unfiltered openness of the internet look at individuals is worth examining. And with the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), things have gone a bit harder to resolve.

The works of the seven artists deal with all of this in a praiseworthy manner. By visualising and, in certain cases, re-visualising landscapes, the past, loneliness, colonial influence, abstraction and objectification of the body, they highlight their subjects with creative prowess and aesthetic poise.

The exhibition concludes on July 3.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2025