KARACHI: Does the reign of terror have an aesthetic side to it? This is a loaded question and better left unanswered. That being said, who can stop artists from exploring such uncharted territories? It is their insatiable appetite to discover the unknown that defines their creativity. Young artist Anam Rani seems to be doing exactly that in an exhibition of her sculptural work titled Aesthetics of terror that kicked off at the Art Chowk Gallery on Tuesday evening.

There`s a remarkable contrast in the medium that the artist has employed (crystal epoxy, threads, plastic, pen, film, paper, etc) and the subject matter of the show. It speaks of a fine balance between the delicate (technique) and the unpalatable (content). And that is where the fun lies.

Anam says that her work pivots around the post-9/11 culture of shock and awe. To be honest, she goes a little beyond that, because the shock and awe that she is talking about crosses cultural boundaries in more ways than one. This is evident in her piece called `Khabarnama`, a classic case of media frenzy, of how things are hyped about in the wake of an incident. The media, of late, has become the focus of attention for many an artist primarily because of its loudmouthed sensationalism.

But then media has other facets to it as well which can be noticed in her very intriguing artwork titled `Raja Gide`. Those of us who have read Bano Qudsia`s famous novel Raja Gidh would be aware of the vulture metaphor. Society is being scrutinised here where the living feed off the wounded and the dead. Anam has replicated the feeling of a fellow artist in this work, which endorses Milan Kundera`s assertion that when one artist speaks of another, s/he is essentially speaking about herself/himself. By the way,there`s another piece in the exhibition `Maps for Lost Lovers` that reminds the viewer of a Nadeem Aslam novel.`Demarcate` takes Anam`s concern a step ahead as the image of barbed wires now figures in her work. And we all know what that means: lack ofcommunication. But Anam communicates her thoughts well.

The exhibition will remain open until June 18.