Sadequain has been regarded as the most celebrated artist of Pakistan, an exceptional genius which comes only once in generations. In his quest to depict the sufferings of common man he experimented with several artistic symbols. In the ’60s when he was recuperating from a critical illness at Gadani beach, he was captivated by cactus, the only plant that can survive the ragged, rough and fierce environment.

Thus the myriad forms of cactus became his vocabulary and sinews of a new vision as he adapted the cactus as a symbol in many of his paintings and indeed painted a whole Cactus Series to depict struggle and perseverance against natural elements of resistance and the eventual victory of hard work. As he said, “To me, cactus symbolises the triumph of life over the environment. Once I used to identify it with my own self. Then I started identifying it with the whole community.” Many of the paintings from the Cactus Series are in private collections across the world. —M.I.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, March 8th, 2015

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