KARACHI: The thing with young artists is that they are never afraid of airing their views. They shoot from the hip. This often results in experimentation with the mediums that they employ to propagate their ideas. The risk with experimentation is that if there is no method to the madness involved, it can turn sour. Not always though. Still, madness is crucial if the artist is to use his/her imagination to the optimum.

An exhibition of Amra Khan and Mohsin Shafi’s works commenced at the Canvas Gallery on Tuesday. It’s intriguingly titled The Noose. Its subject is clear as day. The noose signifies death, both through suicidal means or by killing someone. Naturally the symbol is used here in a larger context and refers to society — Pakistani society — that both artists are part of. It is their association, somewhat inextricable, with society that seems to have perturbed them and caused them to create what they have been able to put on view in the exhibition.

The show is a multimedia presentation too, so to speak. Amra Khan is an artist who likes to explore themes that she feels need to be delved into. It is the ritualistic aspect of existence that she’s chosen (well not just that, there are other themes as well) which strikes the viewer with immediacy. Her digital print I eat therefore I am is a poignant commentary on how, in a country where people are pigeonholed without thinking twice, things can be viewed from different perspectives.

Mohsin Shafi also discusses society’s shortcoming but in a more personalised way. Among other things, his interpretation of the oneric aspect of life is noticeable. The piece Our truest life is when we are in our dreams, awake (C-Print) hints at the fact that oscillating between reality and dream is a state of mind that the artist in Shafi finds intriguing to interpret. By virtue of his endeavour, he manages to come up with something contextually interesting and aesthetically artistic.

The exhibition will run till June 7.