ISLAMABAD: An artist and social activist on Saturday urged the Pakistani elite to contribute to society and philanthropic work, and advised bureaucrats and rulers to behave like servants of the people, and not their masters.

“Pakistan is a beautiful and peaceful country. God has endowed it with enormous cultural and geographical diversity, resources and wealth. The only thing which our rulers and affluent class need to do is sincerity, sense of responsibility and empathy towards the people.

“We should contribute a small portion from what we earn towards the betterment of society and share the sufferings of the poor and disadvantaged people,” Jimmy Engineer, a revered artist, and peace activist said while giving a talk on his life, art and experience as an artist and social worker at Nomad Gallery.

“I represent my country in the world as its ambassador and tell them that Pakistan is a peaceful country and has produced giants like Abdul Sattar Edhi and Adeebul Hassan Rizvi whose services to ailing humanity is unmatched in the world,” he said.

Discussing his life, he said: “I was born on Aug 13 1954 to a Zoroastrian family in Loralai, Balochistan. Although Zoroastrians have ruled the Persian empire, the community is now considered endangered as only 1,400 members of the Zoroastrian community live in Pakistan and 150,000 in the world.”

Jimmy moved to Lahore with his family and studied at St Anthony’s School.

After a brief interlude at the Forman Christian College, he spent three years at the National College of Arts before moving to Karachi.

A versatile artist, Jimmy has mastered various mediums and styles — from landscape and abstract to calligraphy, watercolour, oil on canvas, wood and ceramics and miniatures.

He has created more than 3,000 paintings, 1,000 calligraphic pieces and 1,500 drawings, besides 700,000 prints which are now in private collections in more than 60 countries.

He has received over 70 awards including Sitara-e-Imtiaz, and medals since 1976.

His contribution is not confined to art, as he actively participates in social work.

He introduced ‘walk-for-a-cause’ and walked 4,000 kilometres from Karachi to Peshawar in 1994, stopping at every village on way to get acquainted with the real life and suffering of people.

“I was saddened to see people in the 21st century are living without clean tap water, sufficient food and electricity,” Jimmy said.

In 2001, he started a peace walk from Islamabad to Delhi but had to cut it short at Wagah border after the suspension of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

But the artist believes “peace is the best option and war is the worst option”.

Talking about the creation of the huge paintings on the Pakistan Movement, Jimmy said that a few years after he had started working as a creative artist, he suddenly started having bad dreams about bloodshed and violence.

He mentioned this to Sufi Barkat Ali who advised him to start transforming them on canvas.

He started painting these dreams of bloodshed and violence on huge canvases and the result was large paintings depicting the Pakistan Movement.

Earlier in her introductory remarks, Nageen Hyatt, Director of Nomad Gallery said Jimmy’s work shows his deep commitment to humanity and the respect for the land and society.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2019