EXHIBITION: CRISIS ON EARTH.

Our natural environment is deteriorating. We have overfilled land with waste, plastic contaminates the ocean waters and air pollution continues to envelop the earth - trapping heat within the atmosphere. The result is a change in climate that is being felt across all continents - we are experiencing extreme heat waves, waters are becoming warmer and thus unaccommodating for many oceanic species, and polar ice caps are melting, causing unusual flooding.

As policy legislators and the public follow the scientific community to begin work on counter measures, such as decreasing carbon footprints and the consumption of natural resources, and increasing the use of renewable energy and sustainable materials that minimally impact land and water, visual artists are also responding to this universal issue.

Mahi Fish, Hooria Khan

Curated by art critic Quddus Mirza, the exhibition 'Before the End of Time' addresses climate catastrophes and the loss of natural resources. As stated in the curatorial note, the works do not offer ways out, but rather remind viewers of such ecological concerns. Through this logic, viewers may consider the intention of the exhibition to be educational, as much as it is an exploration of art methods and media.

Thematically, I sense that the show maintains the concept from Mirza's curated project 'If You Have Tears' (July 2021) with the same premise. In 'If You Have Tears', the artworks emanated a calm pace as artists delved into their personal and social relationship with water.

Artists sound the alarm on the rising temperatures, pollution and human practices that have led to a climate emergency

The current show expands this view by taking water and its scarcity as an essential theme among other crucial topics, such as increased temperatures, the connection between elite power hierarchies and the environment, deforestation, and changes in climate, as well as the aesthetics born out of visuals of nature and sites of massive power and energy constructions.

Precious, Jamil Baloch

The strength of the exhibition lies in its exciting utilisation of materials often considered unbecoming of fine and visual art. For example, Hooria Khan has preserved fungus on handmade paper. Khan discovered fungus-on-paper accidently after saving a flower in her journal. Growing fungus raises concerns of sustainability, and the artist preserves the moulds using layee (a mixture of copper sulphate).

The artist draws animals over the surface, referring...