There are art exhibitions that resonate, and then there are those that strike a deeper, more unsettling chord — demanding not just reflection, but confrontation.

Adeela Suleman’s latest solo show, ‘The Kingdom of Retribution’, at Canvas Gallery, Karachi, achieves the latter. A searing meditation on morality, memory and the fragile boundaries between justice and complicity, the exhibition draws on the iconography of Michelangelo’s The Last Judgement to examine the contemporary human condition through a moral and philosophical lens.

At the heart of Suleman’s inquiry is the question of choice. What do we choose to see, to remember, to act upon — and what do we choose to ignore? Suleman, known for her piercing visual language and socio-political commentary, excavates these dilemmas through masterful woodcarvings that reference both the grandeur of Renaissance art and the quiet terror of modern-day apathy.

The exhibition’s conceptual and emotional foundation is anchored in sound. Sada-e-Mehshar: Raag Marwa, a musical composition in D Flat 9 by maestros Arshad Mahmud and Ustad Nafees Ahmed, fills the gallery with an almost otherworldly atmosphere.

The powerful social commentary that permeates much of Adeela Suleman’s art was once again on display at her latest exhibition, a meditation on morality, memory and the fragile boundaries between justice and complicity

Composed specifically for the exhibition, the piece deftly blends elements of South Asian classical music — surbahar, sitar, tanpura, tabla, pakhawaj and the garrha — with Western instruments such as the........

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