KARACHI: A total of 124 students received degrees and diplomas at the 21st convocation of the Indus Valley School (IVS) of Art and Architecture held on the IVS premises on Friday.

One hundred and three bachelor degrees were awarded on the occasion — 17 in architecture, 11 in interior design, 32 in communication design, 29 in textile design and 14 in fine art. One student received a three-year diploma in fine art, 10 were given one-year diplomas in digital film and video, six received one-year postgraduate diplomas in apparel design and four students obtained postgraduate diplomas in photography.

After the academic procession, IVS executive director Samina Raees Khan, in her welcome speech, gave a detailed account of the school’s achievements, activities and a review of 2014. She also mentioned the names of two of the founding members of the school, artists Shahid Sajjad and Imran Mir, who died this year. A one-minute silence was observed in their memory.

Distinguished poet Zehra Nigah’s keynote address was an intelligently worded one. In her trademark modest demeanour, she said writing prose (read: speech) was a difficult undertaking, as the likes of Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi had been keynote speakers at IVS convocations, and she was a poet.

Addressing the graduating students, Ms Nigah said that all of them would do their utmost in their respective fields of art and design, but it was important for them that they did it with affection and care (har amal ko dilkash aur dilfareb hona chahye). The basis of art, she argued, could be found in religious places (minarets, domes, etc), in places where you uttered the word God once and it’s heard twice. She remarked that fine art was the best way to compile (society’s) history.

Ms Nigah urged the students to familiarise themselves with literature because literature had a direct relation with their aesthetic sense. Explaining aesthetic sense, she said it’s a combination of observation, curiosity, wisdom and experience. And all of them contributed to civilised life. This led her, after narrating a couple of anecdotes from her life when she started out as a versifier, to expand on the creative process. “The creative process,” she said, “makes artists tread on different kinds of uneven paths.” Giving her own example as a poet, she said sometimes words got the better of a thought or concept, and sometimes ideas overwhelmed words, making it toilsome for the poet to decide which to choose over which. And that’s the kind of hard work that ensured artists’ success in their fields, she said.

Ms Nigah told the students that the time to come belonged to them and “tomorrow will be better than today”. After Ms Nigah’s talk, degrees were awarded to the students, followed by Mahrukh Murtaza’s valedictory speech.

In his concluding remarks, chairman of the board of governors Tawfiq Chinoy said it was time for the students to move on as well as to look back. So much of society’s future depended on their professions. Therefore they should set their sights high, work hard and make a difference.

The following awards of distinction were also given:

Yasser Vayani, the Dr Saleemuzzaman Siddiqui award for outstanding dissertation; Nida Shahid, the Agha Hasan Abedi award for excellence in architecture; Shah Numair Abbasi, the Abu Shamim Ariff award for best research in fine art; Samreen Sultan, the Zahoorul Akhlaq award for best drawing portfolio; Dania Ali, distinction in final project; Mojiz Hasan Zaidi, alumni award; Zehra Nawab, founders’ award.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2014