March 25, 2006

Sioned Hughes, representing ‘Visiting Arts’ — a UK-based NGO whose aim is to promote art through inter-cultural activities — with two younger partners from her country were thrilled to see the ceiling of the Sadequain Art Gallery that was painted by the renowned artist in his twilight days. Accompanying her from the UK was Alexandra Wood, who has an interesting job with the Finborough Theatre, where she edits plays and occasionally tours with some theatre groups to different places. Then there was Mirium Claire Gamble, who recently published a couple of critiques on Irish poetry. At the Sadequain Gallery, Ms Hughes’ comment was the same as most viewers’, that how unfortunate that the ceiling could not be completed before death claimed the frail artist. The visitors were briefly taken through Sadequain’s art travails by noted art collector Abu Shamim Ariff whose knowledge of the artist can only be matched by his own understanding of his art.

The three ladies from the UK were in Karachi to take part in the Mentoring Programme for Young Critics, organised by the Pakistan chapter of International Art Critics Association (AICA) in collaboration with the British Council, and supported by Alliance Francaise, who offered them their gallery space for the three-day workshop, which was also attended by 12 young men and women from different educational institutions of the country.

And while here, they toured the art scene as much as they could fit within their schedule. They visited the National Museum where they were shown Islamic Manuscripts on display, which makes one lament that not many of us in Karachi are even aware of the treasure trove that is lying in the centrally located National Museum.

The museum trip was followed by trips to Jamil Naqsh Museum, two private galleries — Chawkandi and Canvas — and the National Academy of Performing Arts, where a music class was in progress.

The visit of these three British natives was a follow-up on a similar programme held in the UK where Sibtain Naqvi of the IBA Karachi and Kamala Bhura of the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture represented Pakistan. They were funded by the British Council and Visiting Arts.

At the workshop in Karachi stimulating discussions, with keen participation by the 14 young men and women, were held in different sessions. On Wednesday May 14, Niloufur Farrukh, President AICA Pakistan, gave an introduction to the art scene in Pakistan, which was followed by a two hour interactive programme where cultural writers Marjorie Husain, Rumana Husain and Shanaz Ramzi took part in a discussion, moderated by Asif Noorani, on critical writing in cultural journalism.

The post-lunch session saw Amra Ali holding forth on “Reportage, Feature Writing and Art Criticism”. The day was rounded off by a visit to the Amin Gulgee Gallery and the Gulgee Museum.

The second day began with Niloufur Furrukh conducting a writing exercise on visual arts. After lunch Amra Ali, one of the editors of the art magazine Nukta, Maheen Rashdi, who edits Gallery and Gul Afshan, the Karachi representative of Ferozsons, a leading Lahore-based publisher led a roundtable discussion on career opportunities for art critics in Pakistan.

The final day saw another roundtable discussion on, “Art writing as a catalyst for change and the role of art critics”. The two who gave brief talks were Khalid Ahmed, a theatre activist, and Zofeen Ebrahim, a freelance journalist. What a pity the noted TV and stage actor Sania Saeed, who met with a minor accident a day earlier, could not make it. In the afternoon, Arshad Mahmud, the noted composer, spoke about music criticism, when he should have spoken about music composition.

The participants were so excited about the proceedings that they queried if the organisers would invite them again. If Visiting Arts and the British Council can fund the project and Alliance Francaise offers its hospitality, there is no reason why the programme would not be repeated next year.—A.Z.