KARACHI, May 12: It was the inauguration of a special exhibition of paintings by a 13-year-old special child artist. Mariam Khan had put on display more that 100 paintings on the third-floor open space of the National Institute of Child Health building on Friday evening.
The exhibition was titled `Third eye vision’, also implying that it was her third such show. Part of the proceeds from the sale of the paintings were to go to the NICH.
Inside the hall next to the exhibition place, the girl’s teachers and other dignitaries had gathered to pay tribute to the artist afflicted with Down’s Syndrome, an affliction that hampers speech and causes other handicaps.
Sindh government’s adviser Fatima Surayya Bajia said children like Mariam were more normal than those who think themselves to be intellectuals, politicians and world leaders and were responsible for destroying the world peace. On the other hand, she said, these special people did not disturb the peace or create other problems for society.
Commenting on the art of the child, Bajia said she herself was a designer and had seen flaws in the strokes of well-known artists, but in Mariam’s work, there was a remarkable flow. She also praised the parents and teachers of the girl for their love and patience needed to bring up and train such a child.
Bajia also lavished praises on the National Institute of Child Health and said if there was a paradise on earth, it was this same NICH building.
Saira Iqbal Shafi, counsellor and student of psychology, told Dawn that she herself was an artist by training and when she painted, her brush strokes tended to break at one place or another, but Mariam’s brush moved full circle.
Miss Shafi said Mariam interacted with her in normal circumstances and she could mostly understand what she said. “But when she paints, she is so absorbed in her work, she refuses to be distracted.”
Prof Dr Jamal Ara, the mother of Mariam, gave a moving speech on the occasion. All the audience stood up and clapped to cheer the proud mother. “If God sends me back in this world, I will ask for Mariam again and again,” she concluded.—Naseer Ahmad
KARACHI, May 12: It was the inauguration of a special exhibition of paintings by a 13-year-old special child artist. Mariam Khan had put on display more that 100 paintings on the third-floor open space of the National Institute of Child Health building on Friday evening.
