Living in times of ‘synthetic reality’
Javed Jalil’s solo show questions whether thought is artificial through his art, which visitors can view at Kala Kendra till 24 August
Masud was staring at the face of the ant looking back at him from the canvas. Javed Jalil – the painter – was right; at close-up, the face did resemble a monster. It reminded him of the monster, or monsters, he met a couple of weeks ago.
Masud had gone to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital to attend to his aunt who had suddenly suffered a heart failure. At the gate of the emergency, he was blocked by a group of monsters who suspected him of being one of the student protestors. They assaulted and detained him. By the time he managed to go inside, his aunt was already dead.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Mrs Sajeda had fired her housemaid around three months back. Not only had she fired her, but she had also harassed her and called the police on her – because she was absolutely convinced this housemaid had stolen the jewellery set she had inherited from her mother-in-law. That morning, the jewellery set suddenly emerged from an old handbag inside her closet.
When Mrs Sajeda stared at the ant, she also saw the monster. But the monster was her.
The face of the ant is one of some 20-odd paintings currently on display at the Kala Kendra in Lalmatia as part of 'Synthetic Reality (Part 1 The Red)' exhibition, Javed Jalil's solo show.
Did Javed Jalil also see a monster once he drew the face of the ant on canvas? It would seem so. But the ant, and the numerous other canvases that he has put up for this show, including 'Movement of Thought', 'Walking Religion', 'Multiple Narratives' 'Why do we need the truth?' go beyond simple representational images that can be interpreted in numerous ways, it is an exploration of how it is that we arrive at these interpretations.
Through the skillful movement of this brush, prompted by the stirrings of his mind, Javed Jalil, through these artworks, asks how is it that thoughts are formed in our mind? How is it that humans have evolved to think? Do our thoughts really belong to us? How can we separate our existence from our thoughts? Is thought artificial?
The exhibition began on July 12, a very curious time, because only a couple of days later the country would devolve into unimaginable violence. Some of the elements in the exhibition – the emphasis on red; the willful distortions of the human form; the conversation and arguments emanating from the canvases – create an eerie feeling that the show was a harbinger of things to come.
So was it? Yes, and no, says Javed Jalil. The exhibition does explore how when thought crystallises into ideology it leads to blind belief – the kind of belief for which some people would unleash unimaginable violence. It does explore how thoughts act like microbes that have a life of their own, and can spread from one mind to another at the speed of light. We all saw these happening over the last few weeks.
But these are also phenomena we experience not just at this moment of crisis and euphoria, but throughout time and space, in revolutions and upheavals of the past, but also inside the dark recesses of our mind. Red is the colour of revolution, but it is also representative of human energy.
In that sense, this exhibition is not just about what is going on now, but also what has happened, and what is slated to come.
