In his essay ‘Paris Under Occupation’, Jean Paul Sartre notes how photography excludes a larger reality, presenting only a cropped section as the truth. The picture from La France Libre of a German soldier leafing through a book at the stalls on the bank of river Seine made him write: "I entirely understand that the photograph is not faked but it is just a photograph, an arbitrary selection. The eye embraces a wider field: the photographer saw hundreds of French people rummaging through tens of trays…."

Sartre’s observation can be extended to the way truth is manufactured in our times. In our collective memory, we hold certain visuals as manifestations of truth, without realising these are versions of some individual or group’s vision or viewpoint. The stock images of twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including man’s landing on the Moon, shooting a citizen in the Vietnam War, and two planes hitting Twin Towers, are etched in our memories. But, as Sartre points out, we are not aware of the larger surroundings around these known documents of recent history that complete the picture.

This practice of selecting and presenting can be found in the electronic media today with a reportage that a reporter, cameraman, editor or the owner of the channel wishes to communicate. This personal portrayal of reality is authenticated with repetition, every hour, sometimes for a whole day.

Through repetition these become part of a person’s psyche; so a mere clue is enough to dig the entire narrative. This happens with pictures of famous people as we recognise the whole person through a small portion of his self. What happens in the realm of images takes place in the world of ideas too; we reconstruct truth through a tiny clue.

One finds the same phenomenon being a subject or the point of entry in the new works of Ayaz Jokhio at his solo exhibition being held from Feb 2-11, 2016 at the Canvas Gallery, Karachi. The paintings have images of people, places and historical references but all cut in half, as if a carpenter has used his saw to slice the framed canvas into two. On one level, this act may not merit much in a world where technique, craft, commercialisation and verbosity hover around art circles. But seen in the context of our culture and its contradictions, and the past work of Jokhio, the new paintings appear as an important milestone in his oeuvre.

In a sense all these elements -- history of the artist, habits of a community and cultural practices -- converge into one. Because what is produced, perceived and projected is connected to the same source that moulds the mind and shapes our observation. Previously, Ayaz Jokhio had painted a series of portraits (in black and white, and a part of his solo display at Canvas Gallery booth at the Art Dubai 2015) which were rear views of famous figures. Unlike the use of face that is a mark of identity, his paintings deliberately revealed the back of heads. The viewers were still able to identify Mao, Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, Gandhi, Jinnah, Warhol, Einstein and Kafka. Thus by looking at the opposite side of a person, one invokes the frontal image that is embedded in our consciousness.

With his recent works, Jokhio has twisted the direction as now a viewer needs to recall the other missing part of familiar visuals such as Taj Mahal, painting of a Mughal king, portrait of an army general, and picture of Noor Jehan, the iconic singer. There are some more in the same format, for example the second half of a roadside in Sindh, beach in Karachi, train amid a hilly landscape etc., which do not indicate a precise imagery but communicate the sense of being separated. Likewise, there are two paintings, one with a dog and a portion of knee of a man wearing a Western suit; and the other about a raised hand next to jumbled up microphones, tent and plaque of Radio Pakistan, which may lead to contradictory cases of identifications. The dog and the Western dress make one assume it’s an English man. Similarly, the grey setting of a radio speech delivery affirms it’s Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a leader who had communicated with masses at an intimate and animated level.

Ironically, the first image belongs to the father of nation who wore European outfits, loved dogs and smoked cigars. The other visual is that of General Zia ul Haq, the usurper who overthrew ZAB. Generally speaking, no one associates Jinnah with this kind of lifestyle or Zia ul Haq with that sort of public appearance.

The work of Jokhio serves as a means to realise the misconceptions about life, history and official account. And mainly through a pictorial device: eliminating the other, the integral part, of an accepted narrative. This tactic (also seen in the art of Yoko Ono but in a different context) is referred to by the artist thus: "I think these are complete pictures… but we see them in half, cropped and cut, this is either because of the frame of the these paintings or because of the frame of our minds".

Jokhio has not just cropped one part of his paintings; by doing so, he investigates the conditioning of a community that either one is not prepared to face a comprehensive picture of its past or not confident enough to encounter an objective view of its current situation. In a state of sedation, one keeps amending significant sections from a narrative or history that suits one.

Apart from the local context, Jokhio’s work comments upon a common practice of art world -- of awarding certain status to someone on the basis of rudimentary or insufficient information. Alluding to this individual behaviour, of moulding the whole truth on the basis of fragmentary facts, the work reminds one of the basic aspects of art -- as an inquiry both for the maker and the viewers.

In that respect, his art denotes how states conceal complete information and expect the citizen to pick, mix and match from whatever is available in any situation. There may be contradictions and confusions in this game of hide and seek; what is camouflaged may be the most important thing.

In Jokhio’s work, the absent part was present in the minds of the viewer. A phenomenon that is a hallmark of diplomacy and statecraft; thus while Pakistan may not recognise the state of Israel, the passport of every citizen carries the name of Israel apart from Pakistan.