Written by: Nimra Khan
Posted on: July 30, 2018 | 
| 中文
Imitation I, 2018
Our society at present suffers from countless ills, but the biggest perhaps is its stagnation. According to Allama Iqbal, human success is in the realization that to ‘be’, is to be constantly in movement towards ‘more being’, for ‘in movement, ceaselessly, is the ocean of life’ (Iqbal, Bal-i-Jibril). Yet, we remain set in our ways, regarding archaic and harmful traditions and customs as sacred, and so perpetuating a parochial society. Syed Hassan Mujtaba’s art practice looks at the systematic structuralization of our society, excavating its roots in our childhood and using the image of the schooling system both as metaphor and direct cause.
“Between Black and White” at Sanat Gallery is yet another chapter in this narrative, using the deep monotones to evoke the rigid structures that restrain us. His medium and technique become an integral aspect of the message, the rough, dark rendering of young faces leaving little room for further development, and the low contrast dull greys, reducing differentiating characteristics. While a lot of the imagery remains similar to Mujtaba’s previous solo show at Sanat, here one finds a lack of the hope that was a subtle yet defining character of the former body of work.
The Carvings of the Tender series presents portraits of innocence chiseled out of hard, jagged rocks, a strong substance molded and carved by external forces. The laughing, mischievous faces are countered by the dark dull textures, creating an ominous dichotomy. The artist firmly plants the busts into their stone bases, thwarting their movement and constricting them in time and place.
Imitation II can be viewed in the same vein as Deviation (2016); a portrait of a young girl striking a rather grown-up pose. The beautifully rendered face emerges from within folds of fabric, yet her eyes stare away from the audience, unconcerned. The corner of her headscarf in between her teeth is an act unlike girls of her age, almost an act of defiance. This girl is fully formed, her own person, no longer weighed down, yet in her imitation of adulthood and of typical observed behavior, she reveals her impressionability.
As we move onto other works, however, the figures are fully formed, yet their identities become obscured through compositional decisions. The uniform brings in the institutionalization of young minds and the indoctrination of societal norms and predefined roles by the schooling system to create a standardized population. The individual is erased and absorbed into a compliant, homogenous society. An Appointed Play only shows us the lower portion of schoolchildren clad in uniforms and standing in line. This piece can be compared to Uniform Games (2016) in its visual theme, the whitening out of the uniform presenting a clean slate, a chance to take control of one’s own narrative. Where the previous work offered a break in monotony through a lone ball in a child’s hand, here the defiance seems a lot more subtle; a watch on a single arm and an untucked shirt, for example.
The culminating work Pilgrims, presents a pictures of the end result, a society populated by faceless adults engaged in ritualistic compliance. Hegemonic structures are by now internalized, putting up constraints within our own minds, preventing deviation or questioning, and the visual uniformity reflects the monotony of life as it dehumanizes the individual; the bodies merge together in a sea of white, while each head seems to be part of the same whole. While the artist invokes the idea of religion here, it is perhaps more of a visual metaphor that reveals inherent truths about society.
The show in a way, takes us through our own life cycles, our beginnings as free, immutable individuals, and our eventual subjugation to societal constructs. While the schooling system turns us into blind followers of senseless rules, a direct reflection of our lives spent perpetuating regressive customs, stuck in roles detrimental to our own growth and contentment. The subtle variances, however, implore us to question traditions, the pecking order and the status quo, and attempt to change that which no longer serves us, so we can live our lives on our own terms.
All pictures have been taken from Sanat Initiative
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