KARACHI: How does one define the word `centre`? Simple: the area or region on which an activity is concentrated. In geometry, it is the point that is equidistant from other points in a circle. But is it that simple an explanation? Not really. The centre, especially in this day and age, has strong cultural, political and spiritual connotations.

This is the reason that an exhibition of Alyssa Sakina Mumta`z latest body of work titled The Centre is Everywhere that opened at the Koel Art Gallery on Tuesday merits a visit.

Let`s hear about the subject from the artists herself first: `My artistic pracdceis both devodonaland contemplative; it is simultaneously an offering and a way to bear witness.

The artworks that emerge from this commitment are more than material gestures; they are artefacts of my interior life venerations of the everyday miracle of making something from nothing.

`My visual language is informed by sacred geometry, architecture,pattern, domesticity and motherhood. I work with media including mineral and botanical pigments, leather, artisanal f abrics, handmade papers, tapestry weaving and hand quilting to create meticulously f ashioned artworks that demarcate spaces of sanctuary or recaH the human body engaged in ritual acts.

Alyssa has given a hint to her viewers by suggesting that the artworks on display are the `artefacts` of her `interior life`. This is much like the interior monologue technique that novelists employ to touch upon concepts that they feel will not be aesthetically put across through linear narration. It is always engaging to try and understand someone`s inner thoughts expresse d openly but with the presupposition that the viewer/reader will connect the dots of the back story.

As a result, the artist creates some fascinating pieces, the foremost of which is the `All-Seeing` series (ballpoint pen and leather dye on cowhide).

The geometrical shapes, especially the (somewhat elliptical) circles in the middle and then prominently on the sides of the point-upand point-down triangular ones respectively, signify familiar ritualistic spaces. The familiar aspect is the centre of activity. The drawing of this pattern makes Alyssa`s art delightfully complex and aesthetically pleasing.

The exhibition will continue till June 15.