MAKING sense of the socio-political stimulus, Pakistani art has come into its own over the past decade. The most recent recognition of its worth is in the form of an award for miniature artist Imran Qureshi, the second Pakistani to be honoured with the US State Department’s Medal of Arts Award. Mr Qureshi shares this award with other world-renowned artists, including British artist Rachel Whiteread, the first woman to win the Turner Prize, for demonstrating his commitment to cultural diplomacy through the visual arts. Elements of violence and beauty come together in the art of most contemporary practitioners, their collective expression serving as visual documentaries of our times. Mr Qureshi’s work reflects this fusion through traditional painting techniques — introduced by 16th-century Mughal masters — in groundbreaking ways. His well-deserved award is an honour for Pakistan, especially in a milieu where cultural heritage and art receive only ad hoc state patronage. What is commendable is that he has managed to preserve miniature art, both in technique and material, while depicting modern world concerns including violence and terrorism.

Mr Qureshi is no stranger to global acclaim; a 2013 installation on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum titled ‘And How Many Rains Must Fall Before the Stains Are Washed Clean’, taken from a poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, received much attention from the art world. But even as he is celebrated globally, in Pakistan there are few large public spaces to exhibit art work of this nature, a shortcoming that the state refuses to rectify. It is no wonder that artists of his calibre cultivate a niche abroad where their work is given more prominence and where its value is recognised. Given our own history of violence and the need for building peace, our government would do well to support culture that is imperative to the promotion of tolerance and plurality. The reminder that a nation stays alive when its culture stays alive should not be lost amid other priorities.

Correction: This editorial earlier stated Imran Qureshi was the first Pakistani to be honoured with the US State Department’s Medal of Arts Award. In fact, Shahzia Sikander was the first Pakistani artist to be awarded with the US Department of State’s first-ever Medal of Arts by then Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Mr. Qureshi was the second Pakistani artist to honoured by the US State Department’s Medal of Arts at the biennial ceremony on in Washington, DC.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2017