The “Lie Machine” exhibition by Moonis Ijlal presents a profound commentary on contemporary society’s relationship with violence, war, and the distractions of modern technology. The artworks delve into the impact of media, social platforms, and the growing normalization of violence. Through his paintings, Ijlal forces viewers to confront the unsettling reality that many are desensitized to violence due to its pervasive presence in digital media.
The Connection to the Legend of Peer e Tasma Pah
The inspiration drawn from this conceptual exhibition seems very much reminiscent of the mythical personality of the tale of Sinbad the Sailor wherein Sinbad, at times forced to bear, carries on an old man gripping his neck pretty tight who he cannot possibly manage to leave because the grip by the former makes him incapable. Ijlal uses this metaphor to describe the way in which modern society holds its citizens in a grip that is determined by forces of corporations, war machines, and capitalism. Society is, in fact, like Sinbad, exhausted by the entities but powerless to find a way out of them.
The Nature of the Exhibition: Digital Decadence and War Normalization
The heart of “Lie Machine” lies in a disturbing critique of digital media normalizing war and violence. The young men in the paintings are going about their business, glued to their cell phones, all while scenes of war and destruction surround them. These canvases are similarly shaped to mobile phone screens, forcing the viewer to gaze into the painting as if staring down at the phone. The paintings speak to the consequences of blurring reality and spectacle.
It shows the violence of war not as a tragedy but as a spectacle. It’s live-broadcasted into our homes, making it just another part of our entertainment, much like a video game. The paintings capture this dissonance: young men looking at their phones, while in the background, drones, missiles, and war machines wreak havoc. Violence that was once shocking is now consumed passively and without protest, much like watching a quick video on social media.
The New War Machine: Drones and Digital Killing
One of the strongest features of the show is the description of drones as being the modern instruments of death. Ijlal likens them to the mythic Paris in The Iliad, who starts a war with one arrow. Today’s “Paris” has a drone, capable of targeting and killing a person with the push of a button, while sitting back to watch the carnage inside a screen.
There’s another piece showing how detachment sets the killer against the victim-the soldier in that warzone putting up a selfie with all gusto and enthusiasm claiming killing to be fun. How normal the whole concept of death has now become in any war zone, images of this order that did even stir reactions recently as did in the case of the Aylan Kurdi lying lifeless on the beach floor. The public has grown numb to such atrocities, being desensitized by the constant flow of graphic content on their devices.
The Plight of the Youth: Body Image and Control
The youth in Ijlal’s works are often muscular and well-groomed, obsessed with their physical appearance. These young men, trying to control the one thing they can— their bodies—represent the growing pressure to conform to societal ideals of beauty and strength. Their bodies become their primary form of identity and achievement in a world where everything else feels beyond their control. The paintings point out how this superficial control is contrasted with the deeper, more dangerous forces that dictate their lives—the war machine, corporate greed, and media manipulation.
The Concept of “Mushroob”: A Potential Escape
Ijlal puts forth the thought of “Mushroob”, the elixir capable of sending evil clutches like Peer e Tasma Pah to slumber. The metaphoric thought does speak to some extent of possibilities in which breaking free could ensue when such society at least understands the conspiracy behind it through perpetuation in the circles of violence and consumptive mechanisms that plague our beings. Can we do that for ourselves? Is it enough and is there willingness to break these chains that rule over us
The exhibition prompts the viewers to confront their place in the process of becoming numb to violence and the consumer culture that encourages this. The works speak to how easily we can be swayed by what we consume and how much power we have handed over to corporations, governments, and digital platforms. Through “Lie Machine,” Moonis Ijlal encourages us to see the stranglehold these forces have on us and to question ourselves about our complicity in the normalization of violence and destruction of the world around us.