KARACHI: In the great Sufi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai’s masterpiece Shah Jo Risalo the reader comes across seven passionate and strong female characters, often referred to as the seven queens. These characters have not only had a huge contribution to Sindhi literature, but have also influenced fiction and poetry written in other languages of the region. Now imagine if someone tries to draw the images of these icons, and that too in watercolour. How good a treat would that be!

Artist Lubna Jehangir has undertaken this enormous task. She has painted them. Her work is on display at the Ocean Art Gallery, and anyone who has read Latif’s verses or is familiar with the subject will vouch that the artist has tried to be as true to the characters’ attributes as they are depicted in creative history.

First things first, though. The seven queens are: Lilan, Marvi, Mommal, Noori, Sassui, Sohni and Sorath. All of them have distinct features and personality traits, and it is no mean feat to encapsulate them in a single frame. Lubna has done that with a great deal of competence.

She has to be commended for choosing watercolour as her medium, because it lends the kind of softness and tenderness that one associates with the fair sex. At the same time, she embellishes her heroines in such a way that their resolve, their strength and their passion don’t get upstaged by anything else. The artist has attached four attributes to each of the queens — ‘The woman’, ‘Dhammal’, ‘Spellbound’ and ‘She lives on’. And that has worked wonders.

For example, the ‘Dhammal’ series related to Noori, a fisherwoman, has a cascading look to it. Since it’s the dhammal she’s talking about, there’s a touch of trance-like movement in her delineation of the woman and her demeanour.

Similarly, the concept of grace that immediately springs to mind after hearing the name Mommal is aptly underlined in the ‘The woman’ series. There is elegance, there is class and there is determination in the postures that the artist has given to the protagonist.

Eminent poet and writer Attiya Dawood, who was the chief guest on the opening day (Saturday) of the exhibition, helped guide the artist in her pursuit of putting up the show.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2019