Basir Mahmood is a fresh graduate of Beaconhouse National University (BNU) whose debut solo show of multimedia artworks opened recently at the Grey Noise Gallery in Lahore. The gallery owner and curator of the show, Umer Butt has been a teacher of Mahmood’s in his initial year at the university, and recalls how he had sensed a special ‘spark’ in this student. Indeed, this young artist proved his talent by graduating with distinction, and also by winning a number of awards in filmmaking.

True to its ‘less is more’ credo, the gallery has accommodated a few selected works of Mahmood and these have been displayed in a manner that is significantly untypical. The small and serene space is dimly lit, almost dark, and initially one wonders what’s going on.

Soon one realises that this is deliberate; the darkness facilitates a large screen on which a video is being played as a centrepiece in the exhibit, and highlights another video in a miniscule format in a corner space.

The rest of the photographic visuals are just dimly focused upon in an attempt to give an aura of mystery to a theme that is quite ‘awami’, as Butt puts it, focusing on the average citizen and his predicaments.

It also focuses on the feel of the present times, so that even ordinary people may appear suspicious and mysterious, as in a set of photographs that show individuals in mundane situations but from an aerial view of the kind one may see through a surveillance camera. The identity of the subjects is also somewhat ambiguous as neatly cut portions of copies of the photographs are pasted strategically so that facial features are distorted.

The objective is to both attract attention as well as to highlight the sense of distortion that has permeated the day-to-day existence. The centrepiece video is a comment on the simple man in the street who is shown in the act of changing his ‘desi’ attire and wearing a western suit before he poses for a formal photo shoot.

This is an enacted scene but the subject in this video is unaware that he is being filmed, raising questions about the ethical ramifications of such an artwork. Perhaps in a way it reaffirms the gullibility and vulnerability of the average man, in addition to mocking his fascination with western attire.

The tiny video mentioned earlier is touching in another way. Here the focal point is a needle, and a pair of gnarled old hands which are fumbling to put a thread through the needle’s eye. Titled, ‘My father’, the failed attempts of the old man come across as a simple but poignant struggle.

The three photographs that conclude the exhibit are an amalgamation and superimposition of a large number of photographs to create individual portraits. Here too the ‘common man is the subject’ and the labourer, the coolie and the security guard are focused upon. Each portrait is made up of the features of more than one face, so that the similarities of class and situation are emphasised in a rather ingenuous way.

The exhibition forces the viewer to observe what is seemingly ordinary in a context that is extraordinary. It raises questions about social stereotypes and also gives food for thought to those pursuing photography and video as a means of self-expression.