KARACHI, April 7: In the history of art, painters have generally looked at the downtrodden segment of society with a profound sense of sympathy. This has often resulted in a lopsided view of their subject, and there is no harm in it. After all it is the underprivileged who do not usually have the rub of the green.

Faiza Khan is an Islamabad-based artist. An exhibition of her recent acrylic-on-canvas work began at the Fine Arts Gallery on Saturday. The exhibits on display reflect the artist’s feelings for those who live amongst us and can hardly fend for themselves, especially women and children.

The first thing that viewers notice is the use of readily identifiable figures (of women and children) complemented by strong colour schemes. The artist has used vivid colours and has not resorted to abstraction or over-symbolisation of the theme. She has kept it simple, perhaps too simple, to propagate her ideas. Though the eyes of the figures do not seem to be the artist’s focus of attention, one piece in the exhibition stands out because of the eyes of the two women in it.

They (eyes) appear to be belying what they are going through. It is one way of showing the dilemma that human beings sometimes have to contend with. In her statement about the display, Faiza Khan says that when she sets out to paint, her artworks like a monologue, that is, there is no addressee while she is speaking. But once she completes the job the monologue turns into a dialogue which enlivens the whole effort. It is a creative approach to transferring one’s feelings and sentiments onto the canvas. However, what happens in between the period when the monologue is assuming the form of a dialogue is just as important, since it is in that phase artists get a sense of the purity of their intent born out of sentiments and feelings.

The exhibition will continue till April 14.