PESHAWAR: Noted artists will put their paintings depicting the landscape of northern areas on display next week to give a ray of hope to people and mitigate the impact of trauma caused by Covid-19 pandemic.

Noted water colourist and provincial chief of National Artists Association, Ali Sajid, is busy in arranging beautiful collection of artworks of senior and emerging artists covering northern landscape for a group exhibition to be conducted in Karachi in the first week of January next year.

The artists whose works will go on display include Ajab Khan, Ali Sajid, Arif Ansari, Bashir Haider, Dr Ghulam Shabir, Farooq Aftab, Qazi Amanullah, Rukhsana Gul, Sadia Arif, Shahzad Siyal, Shaimama Umer and Bilal Ummi.

Paintings to be exhibited in Karachi next week

Mr Sajid told this scribe that noted artists from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , Sindh and Punjab participated in the project titled ‘Breaking in the clouds’as they travelled to magical valleys of northern areas in July 2020 to capture the natural beauty and diverse shades of the local culture and art.

The main objective was to boost soft image of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the country at large through charismatic colours with several underlying themes and motifs to beat down fear of pandemic in a healthy manner.

“Artworks showcasing northern landscapes in different media to go on display in Karachi in the beginning of the new year because of non-availability of art gallery in KP but nonetheless, KP beauty encompassing its diverse and multi-layered rich culture will charm greater number of art lovers and find wider space and exposure. It will help in attracting visitors to northern areas,” said the artist.

He said that although negative impact of Covid-19 was global and it spared no aspect of life including the art scene but KP artists realised the significance of art in the society, especially during such complex situation.

“They quickly responded by raising a charity fund for the most affected artists and launched online display to mitigate the mental stress through painting and highlight the novel beauty of the north to promote peace, tourism and faces of cultural diversity which had been the great strength of the province,” said Mr Sajid.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2020