The geometric exp­ressionism of Hasnat Meh­m­ood’s works invites the viewer to indulge in the gratification of sensuous colour, shape and form at a primeval level. But the title of his latest show, ‘Subaltern Futures’, warns us that, while we can tentatively enjoy the moment, a feeling of disquiet and presentiment always lurks as an undercurrent.

The show is seamlessly curated by Atteqa Ali to include Saks Afridi, a Peshawar-born artist, now living and practising in the US, who draws on his heritage of carpet weaving. Afridi transforms the traditional variegated designs of the Persian rug into computer applications, and they erupt out of their rigour to create a universe in which particle physics was still in the early stages of violently creating matter during the big bang.

The sparks of light amid the darkness and the swirls of nebulous colour seem to refer to planetary objects, galaxies, comets, stars and asteroids. By including Afridi in the show, Ali has shown venerable curatorial skills, marking the difference between a good show and a cerebral one.

Why the uncertain undercurrent? The idea of the subaltern is not new to those of us familiar with the postcolonial narrative. In fact, we are so accustomed to the notion, it is time we learned to step out of the expedient shadow that darkly hovers over the third generation of Pakistanis and acquire a voice that is not of the ‘other’. Literature, film, poetry, art, drama, music, criticism — all of it still pivots around the same thematic inference of the debris of colonialism. The fact that we’ve held a subaltern position points to a larger discourse.

Colour, form and space were used to evoke layered histories, cultural displacement and speculative futures at a recent show in Karachi

When the Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci created the term ‘subaltern’, he was in prison under a fascist rule and colonialism was the order of the day. As much as we can hope for it not to be our future, it seems like not much has changed for most of the global South. We see robots in industries and driverless cars around the world. Yet, in our own country, many parts of it do not have adequate electricity, let alone access to artificial intelligence (AI).

The artist as the signifier of his times creates the space within which he inhabits his idea of history, geography, displacement, loss and memory. Mehmood’s works are about space as much as space is about a site of resistance, identity and a socially constructed dynamic ideology, as stated by critical theorists such Henri Lefebvre, bell hooks and Edward Soja. But theorists give us parameters. What we find, where we look, how we feel, depends entirely on our lived experiences.

Mehmood creates images that resemble a kaleidoscope. But the visuals are not easily dismissed as pretty distractions. We sense there’s history here and the Supremacists, Constructivists and Expressionists have been absorbed along the way. Artists of acute sensibility do not work in isolation nor without academic learning. It is visible in their work. Contrarily, artists without learning or thought can be easily determined.

At the centre of Mehmood’s body of work is a blazing fiery orb — an intense sun that may denote the future destruction of mankind or a kinder gentler star that lights our paths out of darkness through lunar phases, as the moon waxes and wanes from our sight. Yet again, the crescents and circles and forms may be visual representations of ultrasonic waves. Or indicators of objects we have not yet encountered.

The artist presents a series of structured ruptures and a plurality of ideas — much like our lives today. For some, our lives erupt in slow motion. For others, the explosions are forceful. In the same way, the future cannot be understood through one single idea, rather requiring a plurality of resources and innovations. Hybridity and plurality are the future of our lives and Mehmood’s work is a lucid depiction of the notion.

Mehmood’s scratchboard visuals are much more playful, although they are stark and monochromatic. These complex and elaborate, interlocked meshes are a futuristic representation of the dance of the winds, the waves of the ocean. They are perhaps how we will cache organic systems of the universe in the future.

‘Subaltern Futures’ was on display at the Sanat Initiative in Karachi from July 1-10, 2025

The author is an independent art writer and curator

Published in Dawn, EOS, July 13th, 2025