LAHORE: Founding Women’s Action Forum (WAF) member and famous artist Prof Lala Rukh, close to many a hearts when it comes to struggle for women rights and a popular teacher of Fine Arts students, passed away here in Lahore on Friday. She was 69.

She had been fighting cancer for the last one month.

She was a dedicated member of the WAF and a lifelong crusader for justice, equality of women rights and minority rights from feminist perspective and artist of great caliber. She was laid to rest at Miani Sahib.

Her qul will be held at her residence - 54-FCC, Zahoor Elahi Road, on July 9.

Lala Rukh did MFA from the Punjab University and also from the Chicago University, USA. In her 30-year teaching career, she taught at the National College of Arts (NCA) and the Punjab University. At the NCA, she launched the MA (Hons) Visual Art Programme in 2000.

After retiring from teaching, Lala Rukh devoted her time to studio work in Lahore and to activism. She will be remembered as one of the foremost feminist activist artists of South Asia. She was the daughter of Hayat Ahmed Khan who founded All Pakistan Music Conference.

Lala Rukh was the pioneer of photographic and minimalist tradition. She was the founder of the NCA’s Visual Arts Department and was also the co-founder of the All Pakistan Music Conference (1960). She joined the WAF in1981 and Vasl Artists Trust in (2000).

Lala Rukh’s art medium were from acrylic and carbon paper, to photographic paper and serigraph print; there was no separation of form and content, structure and substance.NCA Principal Murtaza Jaffri said Lala Rukh was a key member of a women artists group in 1983 who drafted a manifesto upholding rights of female artists and freedom of expression in Pakistan.

Activist Nighat Saeed Khan said Lala Rukh was a very political person and as an artist, she was the only other person to have had thousands of photographs as pictorial historian other than Dawn’s ace photographer Azhar Jaffri (late). Currently, her work is on display in Athens and Keffel (Germany).

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2017