KARACHI: There is a marked difference between questions raised by artists and those put by other important figures such as politicians and social scientists regarding society’s shortcomings. The latter seek tangible, physical change within geographical confines whereas the former look to revolutionise society on a psychosomatic level, that is, they investigate the relation between the mind and the body to resolve or understand individual and collective conflicts.

An exhibition of artist Donia Kaiser’s works titled ‘The Other Side’ opened at the Chawkandi Art Gallery on Tuesday.

The artist has touched on large societal issues in miniature style, hence following the line espoused a long time back by Polonius, ‘brevity is the soul of wit’. The word wit does not necessarily imply a smile-eliciting comment. It also means intelligence. And this is what comes out of Kaiser’s works quite clearly: she has intelligently brought into focus grave subjects like a person’s position in a society, mainly urban society, against a social backdrop which is symbolically dark.