iewing a group show comprising of scores of participants is usually a daunting experience especially when one wishes to critique the creative efforts on display. One such challenge was recently encountered at the Alhamra Art Gallery in Lahore, where the work of young artists from all over Pakistan was showcased at the behest of the Lahore Arts Council.

Alhamra`s curator Tanya Sohail and her team had put in considerable effort to organise this mammoth exhibition, engaging young Pakistani artists from not only Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad but many other locations including Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Quetta, Mirpurkhas, Azad Jammu Kashmir, Faisalabad, Multan and Gujrat.

This in itself was a remarkable achievement and a symbol of hope in these troubled times.

The power of the youth tobring about positive change in society has been a much touted phenomenon in recent times.

However, what goes on in the minds of these young individuals is something that can well be gauged from their creative expression, which is exactly what the aforementioned exhibition titled, Memoirs of the Future, seemed to bring out.

The fact that the youth is no longer apathetic to the human condition was especially evident by the fact that a large number of participants had chosen portraiture as the focus of their compositions. Whether self-portraits, or those of other people or groups, there was a sense of both empathy and even pathos that was moving.

Though young individuals do tend to be overly emotional in any case, the impact of the present times, with the never ending lawlessness, brutal violence and oppressive circumstances do seem to have takentheir toll on many impressionable young souls. Thus portraits such as those by Uswa Arshad showing a young teenager crouching in a foetal position in a red coloured tub, or Zara Tah.ir`s rendition of a young girl hiding in a cupboard full of clothes but with a terrified expression visible in her eyes, or Waheed Bhutto`s exquisite charcoal portrait of a girl staring at the viewer with a poignant and questioning gaze, are but a few examples of figurative compositions that tug at your heart and soul.

And these were by no means exercises in sentimentality, but skilfully managed artistic compositions that nonetheless express the ethos of the times.

Not all works were beset with clarity of technique or ideas and there were many compositions that indicated a riot of confusing ideas that were expressed through experimentation with colours, forms and textures, and at times an excessively overt expression of distress or anxiety. But this too, isyet a valid indicator of what is going on in many young minds faced with myriad challenges in an often anarchie or unstable social environment.

Nonetheless, the ability to focus objectively was also brought forth in many creative efforts and the influence of` senior artists could also be discerned in a number ol` paintings.

Though a variety of mediums and techniques were employed, oil painting seemed to be the most popular medium in this particular exhibition. Even though all manners ol` expression were evident, the predisposition l`or realistic rendering seemed to be apparent, and in this context, the painterly expertise of many young artists was impressive.

Obviously, there is an overwhelming amount of talent in our young artists which needs to be put to good use. One prays for happier times for our beleaguered youth who need both positive inspiration and achievable, creative goals to work towards. E