Subjectivity is a much underrated human experience, though it allows us to internalise an experience from the mundane to the surreal, into something uniquely different.

This realisation became apparent as it stared back at all those who attended the Vasl Artists’ Residency show at the Full Circle Gallery, Karachi, titled “Residue” recently. The work of the two participating artists, Wei Leng Tay from Singapore and Ali Sultan from Lahore, presented two very unique insights into their experience of the city and their time in Karachi.

Their work is completely different from each other and the approach that the two artists took is conceptually very different. Safe to say, five weeks is not a great amount of time to observe a metropolis like Karachi, with its multiple layers and complexities but for each artist the city has been able to offer something unique.

There is a fundamental difference between the artworks of Wei Leng Tay and Ali Sultan — for one it is a personal diary and for another a study of the society at large

Ali’s work approaches the residency from a purely personal vantage point, where he shares with his audience experience of his time here. Moving from one work to the other, one can feel the way in which the artist spent his time here. Works like ‘First night blues’, ‘Port Qasim’, ‘Sunset Lane, galli number paanch’ present no difficulty for the audience to connect with the artist and to get a sense of his surroundings, and how he devoured in the many sites.

Ali has internalised his time here, and it becomes the most obvious in his work ‘How will I know how you love me? I have left you. This is how you know’. The work is a series of images, combined together with a map drawn out on a library return date sheet and a poem. And it is this map that gives it the most personal touch, a sense of being in a new city and navigating it — an experience that all of us can connect with.

In its entirety the work indicates a rush, a desire to capture time. The hurried strokes indicate a struggle to catch a moment that is fleeting. The choice of materials itself: paper, pen, pastel suggest that the birth of these works wasn’t a product of great deliberation, but simply something instinctual. There is a great energy and spontaneity in the work, which is in stark contrast to Wei Leng’s work.

Leng’s work takes the appearance of a documentary focusing on the socio-political-religious-economic aspect of the city. There is a criticality in his work and experience coming from his philosophical views. His work is a commentary on his interaction with the city, a discerning voice on the lives of the people he met, picking up on the most subtle of clues and creating around them a narrative that fits in with his larger world view.

The work is presented through a three-channel projection, with a mix of images, jumbled up so they appear in no logical sequence creating a sort of disconnect. The narrative is lost thus, allowing one to focus on the image alone and the tone that the artist is trying to create via it. Unlike Ali’s work which is more of a storytelling, Leng’s work presents an analytical view of things he saw and experienced.

The two artists have taken up their own time here as the basic subject for their work, but it is the clash of their ideas that is the true beauty of this show. For one it is a personal diary, for another a study of the society at large.

There is a fundamental difference between the artworks of Wei Leng Tay and Ali Sultan as for one it is a personal diary and for another a study of the society at large.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, December 13th, 2015