Art exhibition explores intricate dialogue during a gaze.

Byline: Syeda Shehrbano Kazim

ISLAMABAD -- An art exhibit by My Art World titled It's All About the Gaze, which explores how individuals deal with gazes and finding a focal point during a gaze opened at the AQS Arts and Craft Village on Friday.

The art works are by Zoya Manan, a graduate of the National College of Arts, Lahore. She is a dedicated artist who has not faltered in her studio practice, rapidly evolving a style that is both evocative and unique. Her experience with cerebral palsy has found expression in her art.

'My art allows experimenting with different media such as charcoal, oil paints, and acrylics. Painting has allowed me to identify my enthusiasm in creating narrations on canvas through human figures. I felt I have control over my imagination and over reality in my paintings, if not in real life,' she said.

This current body of works came to fruition as Zoya read The Gaze by Elif Shafak, a novel that explores the subjects of body image, the perception and reality of desirability and how individuals deal with the gazes of passersby.

She explained: 'My paintings are about the way of looking and about finding a focal point at the same time. A lot of things happen at the same time but we focus on one aspect, even when we are looking. Each painting is about that dialogue.'

Photos by Mohammad Asim

Strong clear patterns in each painting draw the viewer's attention while the eyes of the figures remain the single most definitive component. The colour palette is bold, with solid strokes of different colours clearly visible.

'My work depicts rigidity, confinement, physical and mental detachment; gradually it incorporates the environment and...