Mariam’s efforts to communicate through colour and form are an expression of her inner journey. She brings out the beauty and colours that are contained in her person
GULGEE, our prized artist, once said that all artists are mute. Elaborating, he said painters were not writers, speakers or poets. They paint what they feel and see. Thus, if Mariam, eleven-and-a-half years old with limited vocabulary, paints so expressively, it should not amaze anyone. More than 50 abstract paintings by Mariam were recently on display at the art gallery of a local hotel. Her paintings are amazing in many ways. They are far superior to many non-representational abstract paintings executed by experienced hands and minds claiming form and colour sensibilities.
When looking at a painting, the first thing we encounter is the appearance — what it looks like. Mariam’s paintings look like landscapes. If she had the power to communicate in words, like a concept painter (who paints a black dab on the canvas and then explains in word and writing that it is Iraq after bombing and sells it for Rs40,000), she would have said that her painting with a blue sky and reddish-orange ground and missile-like brownish strokes is a comment on either Afghanistan or Iraq. She would have further added that human beings are running here and there to escape the hell broke loose on them.
But Mariam is silent. She paints for the viewer to see what is there on her canvas. She wants you to see her inner happenings. Her experience is for you to judge, evaluate and appreciate or condemn. And nobody dare condemn her representations because they are saner than the sane. Another of her paintings with five outstanding circular forms looks like blooming flowers in the wild. But this could be a mature assessment of her painting. Her forms are like figures children draw of their friends and relatives. To the circle as head are attached arms and legs. Her third painting with yellow heads looks like a conference of empty heads.
There is nothing unfortunate about Mariam not being able to communicate her ideas to us, as only a very weak painting needs words for explanation. Her simplest painting with powerful strokes may be indicative of her anger and anguish through which Mariam must be passing at times, but it reminds me of some of the canvases of our cerebral painter, the late Zahoor-ul-Akhlaq. He drew a few lines on his canvases which were a part of his last exhibition at Chawkandi. I remember having questioned him if they were to commemorate his childhood.
Mariam is special in more ways than one. She is born special with speech and hearing impediment. The only child of a surgeon, Asad Khan and Dr Jamal Ara, Mariam suffers from communication problems. Fortunately, her parents detected in her a skill through which she is now able to communicate with the world. Akhtar Hilal Zuberi, an artist in his own right and a skillful teacher with lots of patience, explored Mariam’s efforts to communicate through colour and form. Her paintings are an expression of her inner journey. She brings out the beauty and colours that are contained in her person.
Mariam is a student of Facts (Fixon School of Art and Creative Techniques), an unconventional teaching institution of art which provides an opportunity to people of all ages to explore and groom their inherent artistic talent. It offers short courses in various disciplines of art, appreciation of beauty and acquisition of aesthetic cultivation. Housewives, elderly people, girls and boys have all benefited from it, with learning facilities for special children as well.
Through the combined efforts of Aamer and Zuberi, Mariam gradually began to identify herself with people and surroundings. Zuberi believes that to touch the heart of a special child one needs lots of patience and love, because special children cannot comprehend words. Initially, when she started off, Mariam was scared of getting paint on her clothes. Now, while painting, she at times talks to her painted canvas, smiles and sings. There is no need to look for philosophy or meaning in her work. It is like the song of a bird which you hear and enjoy.
Mariam’s efforts to communicate through colour and form are an expression of her inner journey. She brings out the beauty and colours that are contained in her person 
