KARACHI: Some bad life experiences do not let people come out of them unscathed. Some do. But it’s not necessary that unsavoury experiences leave a mark on our lives. The good ones have their indelible effect, too. It depends on how deep that experience has gone on to impact our existence.

A group show titled Ecology of Marks that concluded at the Chawkandi Art Gallery on Friday focuses on the subject with emphasis on the technical aspect of art: here, the symbolism of mark-making in creating an image on canvas or any other surface is deemed as significant as the image itself.

The participating artists are: Raheela Abro, Sheema Khan, S M Raza, Sumaira Tazeen and Zahra Arif.

According to the introductory note provided by the gallery, they come from different backgrounds. To be honest, looking at what they have put on display, it does not seem so… in a nice way. Their concerns appear to be the same, albeit expressed in distinctly different styles. Style and technique go hand in hand. In art, technique is important. It becomes doubly important when the content that a bunch of artists are trying to concentrate on is not vastly dissimilar. This is where the form takes precedence over the subject matter. And that’s where the ongoing show scores high points.

There are quite a few things going on for the five creative souls, foremost of which is the sensitivity that they have shown while dealing with the topic — society’s shortcomings. With sensitivity comes softness. There’s a clear soft touch to the exhibits on view done in media as varied as acrylics and gouache, graphite and acrylics, watercolour and black pigment. As a result, the viewer gets to see striking artworks such as the ‘It’s all about U’ series by Abro, ‘1913’ by Arif, the ‘Garden of Interdependence’ series by Khan, the ‘Lost’ series by Raza and ‘Lily’ by Tazeen.

Cool stuff.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2026