A seemingly abandoned chair sits outside a house. The wall behind is covered with bougainvillaea creepers, its pink and white flowers lay strewn across the floor. A stand fan and a water bottle cap with an upturned steel glass on either side of the chair indicate ‘someone was here'.
Named ‘Khayaban-e-Sehr’ after a locality in Karachi, this small-scale oil painting (11.5x11 inches) by Pakistani artist Huma Mulji packs a medley of emotions in its bold strokes of spring hues––greens, yellows, and pinks contrasting with earthy shades of browns and greys. A melancholic absence is palpable.
“I am looking beyond the human lens at a city that is usually so populated. I visited Karachi during the pandemic, and suddenly these chairs, which were used by guards to sit outside people’s houses, were vacated. It’s about things that are left behind because of a sudden occurrence. The image is speculative,” says the artist, who has been living in England for the past seven years.
