KARACHI, May 8: A two-day poster exhibition titled ‘Draw Me Democracy: I Vote Therefore I Am’ opened at the Arts Council on Wednesday evening.

The project was initiated in 2009 by a non-profit organisation, Poster for Tomorrow, whose aim was to encourage people to come up with posters in order to stir up debate on issues facing society.

There is a wide variety of posters made by artists from different countries on display. The kind of creative diversity that the viewer observes while witnessing artworks made on a single subject — the importance of voting — is praiseworthy. From symbolism to reality-based themes, the artists have used whatever they have felt like to express themselves, conveying their message in a pretty effective manner.

The most simple and straightforward poster is perhaps by Patrice Barrera from Columbia in which a ballot paper has assumed the form of a tick mark, indicating it is ‘right’ to vote. Laura Cortes from the same country uses the vote as the key to unlock issues. This theme is used by some other artists as well. Perhaps the most striking picture in that regard is by Mohammed Lakhdar from Morocco. It’s the image of a person (who is looking diminutive) standing beside a giant ballot box. The significance of the box vis-à-vis people could not have been illustrated in a better way.

Then there are posters in which text accompanies the visuals to highlight the issue. For example, the statement on Bolivia’s Raul Martinet poster reads ‘Sometimes it just feels like something is missing’, which is self-axiomatic. Roy Valentine from Botswana employs the expression ‘Vote for Freedom’ with people waving flags and chanting slogans against a red backdrop with an about-to-be-broken barbed wire in the foreground. In that category, the one very smartly put together poster is by Macedonia’s Milan Kostadinovski. It has a bicycle being carried in the air by a bunch of balloons rounded off by the text ‘my life after voting’.

Pakistan’s Maria Ayaz and India’s Aditya Mehta also impress with their simple but powerful messages. The latter makes no bones in saying ‘Don’t be a slave to the system: vote’ and supports it with a powerful image. The exhibition, which has been brought to Pakistan by artist Khuda Bux Abro and organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and the Arts Council Karachi, will conclude today.