KARACHI: Two subjects that have emerged as the centrepieces for artists` creative output in the latter half the 20th century and the 21st century are identity and belonging. Both have to do with, in a manner of speaking, displacement. If you move or are pushed from one geographical boundary to another or from one socioeconomic space to another or even from one cultural sphere to another, then both identity and belonging come into play often with certain painful realisations.

This is, or to a large extent, is the focus of a group exhibition titled You Don`t Belong Here curated by Safia Mahmood at the Koel Art Gallery.

The eight participating artists doa fine job in conveying the basic concept for the show. A delectable variety of media and technique is a given, but the noticeable thing is that, while they have approached the topic in their individualistic ways, the sensitivity with which they have come up with exhibits appears to have come from a singular place. This is not an easy claim to justify, because each person has their own sensitive side which manifests in a number of ways. Here, though, the artworks exude a palpable feeling of longing with equal intensity.

The description that the gallery offers might help in understanding this point: `You Don`t Belong Here is an active commentary on how different bodies and communities are sidelined from the mainstream and forced into the margins on a daily basis, creating a sense of unbelong-ing. Using the genres of film, conventional, unconventional and contemporary mediums of art, we hope to create an experience to mimic moments of unbelonging.

The word mimic entails a dramatic sense; at the same time it reflects the act of undertaking an exercise over and over again with a particular (noble) goal in mind the goal of being at a place where you`re made to feel unwanted. This is the sense that you get when you look at the striking artworks on a level of sensitivity. Each artist is distinctive but echoes what needs to be echoed.

The creative souls whose works were on display at the exhibition that concluded last week are: Alina Mehta, Areeb Tariq, Aswad Anees, Haris Hidayat Ullah, Inshal Tahir, Mohsin Shafi, Samya Arif and Umaina Khan.