KARACHI: A two-day exhibition of photographs titled In the Dawn of Light concluded at the Art Chowk gallery on Saturday.

The two very young participating artists are Noor Khan and Silah Saigol.

Recently a renowned scholar wrote an article on the art of photography. He writes that in the 19 th century the art of taking pictures with a camera emerged as an alternative to the art of painting; and goes on to suggest that the reason for it is that it was more of a mass-oriented or democratic medium. This may be debated because all art forms, depending on their subject matter, can either be democratic in their reach or meant only for aparticular group of people.

Khan and Saigol`s works are not confined to any targeted audience, and that`s the marked feature of their show. What they, instead, try and achieve is that by way of personal expression that is, capturing images that have inspired them and producing them in black & white they are trying to invite whoever wants to come with them on a journey which is subjectively distinct and objectively rich.

Now why do it in black & white and then name it `in the dawn of light`? Well, let`s not use the much abused word `binary` here.

So, what the artists are doing is to show two sides of a coin, one of them is brighter than the other.

And the one where light doesn`t shine as much is no less significant. A case in point is Saigol`sremarkable `Veggie` series. In the series, the darkness, nay grayness, around the focused objects is essential to the illuminated part because the artist is showing them not as something to be con-sumed; rather, they are treated as nature`s under-discussed aesthetic accompaniments.

Similarly, Khan`s take on human faces is a study of intangible aspects of life by inspectingthings that can be touched and felt, but are hard to understand.

Here, too, the darkness plays the role of the protagonist and the light lends a helping hand to it.

Interesting stuff.