September 23, 2006

A soft focus of a harsh reality — the ‘Machar Art’ exhibition at Alliance Francaise recently spotlighted a segment of humanity we prefer not to look at. The disturbingly pitiful existence of the residents of Mohammadi Machar Colony came centre stage through a series of paintings and photographs. A fund raiser and community awareness project, the show was organized by Concern for Children Trust (CFC) a non-profit, non-government organization which aims to build models for sustainable development for children in ‘at risk’ populations. Since March 2000 the organization has facilitated healthcare services and health education to the impoverished community of Machar Colony and sale proceeds of this exhibition are also intended to be utilized as seed money for other health education initiatives already in the pipeline.

The artworks on show were executed by the children of Kiran Academy, Ghulshan I Farooq and Ayesha Secondary School of the colony. CFC designed a 12 week summer internship program for first year A-Level and Indus Valley art students who provided art instruction to these children. At first glance the exhibition appeared to be a chromatic extravaganza but it was essentially child art in cut and paste collage work, hand painting and rudimentary brushwork. The picture content was largely free form, with some play up of basic geometric shapes like triangles, squares and circles as well as conventional still life and landscapes with typical sun, mountains, trees and houses imagery. As a first encounter with art the childrens intuitive and exuberant use of colour, glitter and ornamentation belied an inner vibrancy but the works carried no references, clues or depiction of life in Machar colony. If the young boys and girls were encouraged to draw and paint images of their actual life, no matter how basic and simplistic, viewer engagement would have been enhanced. However, each painting carried an excerpt regarding its artists living conditions which did serve the purpose of a reality check, to some extent.

What one missed in the artworks came out full strength in the photograph display. There was camera art and documentation of hard core reality too. The photographs were raw and pungent and humbling and humane by turns. Photographer Kate Malone’s focus on shrimp peeling as a hazardous occupation for women and children (it causes skin rot) was well captured. One could feel the stench of the muck and filth in her very vibrant but searing photographs of women and children at work in an extremely unhygienic environment. Photographer Nadir Burney also opted to shoot imagery that was insightful and penetrating while works by others like Izdeyar Sethna, Zohra Omar and Kohi Marri had illustrative and narrative appeal too. Most of the photography on show pertained to young children in and out of school and at play in the primitive surroundings they innocently accept as home. In Mohammadi colony there is a much larger percentage of wage earning children than school going ones and photographs showing engagement of child labour highlighted this disparity to good effect.

Using art to solicit a cause is a well developed phenomenon in the west and this vehicle is particularly suitable for addressing the underprivileged communities here because of its educative aspect and breadth of expressive range. Izdeyar Sethna mentioned the “humanizing influences” of art and Kohi Marri said, “I have only scratched the surface, there is a lot that needs to be explored,” regarding his photo stint in Machar Colony.

Art of this nature is meant to whet ones philanthropic spirit and generate awareness about the plight of those who are marginalized. It needs to be accepted in the context of service to humanity and not just its aesthetic merit. Mohammadi Colony is a four kilometer stretch of underdeveloped land behind the Railroad tracks of Karachi’s Mauripur Road. Its illegal status deprives it of water, sanitation, education and health care. As the ultimate backwater it is in dire need of support at many levels.