November 20, 2003

Though society does not understand why young men take up art as a career, many have defied the norms and gone on to prove themselves at the NCA, writes Khuzaima Fatima Haque

Shades of red run across a canvas. Paintbrushes dipped in yellow, all set for creativity, stand in an old jar. Open bottles of paint, destined to draw gold on paper, wait for the Midas touch.

Delicate designs in miniature are being created by a man’s hand. Revolting against society’s preconceived notion that art is a girl’s domain only. Khadim Ali Changezi, who comes from Quetta and is currently majoring in miniature painting at the Fine Arts Department at the NCA, quickly brushes away the opinion with a wave of the hand and says, “Any individual possessing an aesthetic sense has the right to art. Art has nothing to do with gender. It is a creative expression and a man is just as capable, if not better when it comes to creative expression.”

Changezi is not the only young man in Pakistan who practices what he believes. The National College of Arts in Lahore has an increasingly fair mix of girls and boys. The boys may still be a minority but their presence can certainly not be ignored.

For long, fine arts have been considered to be a girl’s forte. Traditionally not required to support her family, a girl, it is often said, will take up painting to fill up her spare time. Nobody objects when girls want to study painting.

However, boys even those coming from the so-called liberal and well-educated families are told to take up lucrative jobs than to join fine arts. While a father like Kamil Khan Mumtaz, a big name in Lahore’s architectural field, may not have even raised an eyebrow when son Murad Khan opted for miniature painting as a major at the NCA, most others would certainly need more reason to allow a male child to go for fine arts.

Art needs commitment and many young men are now committing themselves to creativity as a means of earning their bread and butter. “Initially the fine arts department at the National College of Arts was a small one. Comparatively the architecture department had the maximum number of students. But that is not the case now,” says Nazish Ataullah who currently teaches printmaking at the NCA. The discipline of fine arts is becoming popular. Apparently, as things stand today, only those boys whose conviction is strong enough take up fine arts for a lifetime.

“We would like a healthy mix of girls and boys. However, we see that men, unless somebody is really personally interested in art as a career, don’t take it up. Yet when they do come in, it is a great means of self-discovery for them and they do very well,” adds Ataullah.

For some, art is an inborn thing while for others it takes the form of a concentrated effort that leads to the attainment of a certain level of creativity. The strict code of admission at the National College of Arts ensures that only the best are admitted. In the first year all the students are put through a foundation course. The second year courses build up towards the future options that may make for any student’s choice for a major in his final year.

It is in the third year that art students at the NCA really explore themselves because it is at this stage they have to decide what discipline they will eventually major in. Currently four areas of specialization are being offered at the NCA’s fine arts department. These include miniature-painting, painting, sculpture and print making. Quite a number of male students can be seen in all the classes.

While inside the fine arts department at the NCA the young men are encouraged to develop their creative instincts, the world outside the walls of the institution looks at them with misgiving despite the claims of a changing world.

Will they be able to earn their bread and butter? Will they jump grades like a civil servant? Do they have an aim in their lives? Where will their choice of career lead them? What opportunities lie in store for these creative minds? Will society grant them the respect that is accorded to doctors, engineers and bankers?

“No, society doesn’t respect artists the way it respects engineers, doctors or bank executives because society gains advantage from all the other professionals whereas artists are lost in their own world,” says Muntazim Rizvi, a third year fine arts student at the NCA. All the same the fact remains that the difference in art and science is that while the one explores the environment, the second technically proves the explorations of the creative minds.

“Our society believes that all those who graduate from the NCA become artists and are not accepted by society. Thus they don’t get jobs and cannot earn their living. This is an absolute falsehood. Today there are lots of opportunities for our graduates. They get jobs irrespective of what discipline they may come from. They get employed in schools as art teachers. Others go back to their rural areas to become drawing masters. Others join the advertising industry as illustrators or designers. Many also enter the print media,” says Nazish Ataullah.

Thus, as things stand today, there is no dearth of openings for the fresh graduates which goes to say that at this point gender is irrelevant. The textile industry also welcomes NCA graduates in the fine arts with open arms. Thus with their monetary achievement many continue with their painting side by side. This is the ideal situation to survive in this world where an artist’s worth is seldom recognized.

Ataullah’s statement, which is a reflection of contemporary professional trends, also elucidates how fine arts is becoming a need-based academic course for young men while a couple of decades ago only those opted for fine arts who had craft in their veins.

Today, the NCA boasts male students in its fine arts department whose families do not even have the remotest connection with craftsmanship. Sons of bankers, engineers, doctors, these men in the fine arts departments at the NCA are stepping on virgin ground and breaking traditions. Hopefully they will set a tradition of making Fine Arts a white-collar profession. They will not be scoffed at as dabbling in womanly pursuits.

“When I got admitted to the NCA my father’s friend asked me why I was moving to Lahore so far from Quetta only to make pictures?” says Changezi with a twinkle in his eyes.

Abdul Fateh who came from Jamshoro in Sindh to study at the college had to face a lot of difficulties and hardships to get here. “Art is not considered to be a viable profession amongst the rural people,” says Abdul Fateh.

Since his father was a contractor in Jamshoro, he had no knowledge about what his son wanted to do. “I said I will make portraits, paintings and learn to write banners,” says Abdul Fateh as he tried to explain the situation to his village folk and family who refused to spend on his odd choice of education.

Thus prior to his education he took up a job as an assistant to a painter and earned to pay his way through school. He believes that he has a commitment towards society that he must fulfil. Now that he is financially stable, his village folk have accepted his choice of profession and Abdul Fateh has won the battle.

“When I joined the NCA I never gave a thought to how I would earn my bread and butter. It was never a primary consideration. Since now I am in my last year I have started thinking about it. I shall take up a job related to my field. I know that solely supporting oneself on the basis of selling one’s paintings is not possible. However, gradually one can indulge more in art as one becomes monetarily settled,” says Murad Khan at the NCA.

Khan, like many of his peers, voices his opinion in a dreamlike trance. Since when has money been a consideration for an artist? Since when have artists started caring about what society thinks of them? Their dialogue with society is through their work. It is uncouth to think that currency is a driving force in their choice of profession. But then society expects the man in the family to be the bread-winner, in many cases, the sole bread-winner.

Art is not a saturated field for boys as yet. Therefore, many young men are opting for fine arts. The majority of girls often leave art after marriage and therefore being a male in this field is rewarding.

Mohammad Taqi, who belongs to Wah, proudly feels that, “Now there is a lot of hype about NCA students in my community,” and so he will not have a problem assimilating back with his people. “Society has to accept us, otherwise how else will it promote its artists?” questions Taqi.

Meanwhile, Nisar Ahmed, who comes from Quetta, says that his decision for his academic future had stirred a lot of dialogue and debate among his family. Painting was a hobby for him which eventually became an obsession leading him to take it up as a profession. He admits that it is not easy to earn as an artist. So now, after graduation he supplements his meagre income as an artist by teaching at the Karachi Arts Council.

Ahmed does dream of going back to his hometown but only when he is an established name on the art scene in Pakistan. His choice to live in an urban environment stems from his reading that only literate urbanites understand and appreciate art.

Art is still considered taboo amongst many rural folk. Creative expression demands space. It opens up a whole new world to creative individuals who can put their individual ideas and concepts into play at their own will. The big cities serve as spheres of freedom to these individuals who even sacrifice family ties only for art’s sake.

While it is true that perhaps not all these young men will turn out to be a Sadequain, Jamil Naqsh, Ali Imam, Iqbal Hussain, Gulgee and Askari Mian Irani of their time, it is commendable on the part of these aspiring male artists to face all the odds stacked against them in our society. Therefore they not only deserve praise and recognition for having the courage to hold their own, they also deserve support and encouragement.

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