LAHORE: Former principal of National College of Arts Naazish Attaullah has termed the book,“Not Everyone’s Heaven: The Art of Adeela Suleman”, by Rosa Mario Falvo a visually stunning and profoundly moving account of life and works of the artist.

She was speaking at the launch of the book while Adeela Suleman was also a part of the session on the second day of the LLF on Friday.

“In the tumultuous environment of Pakistan’s megacity, Karachi, in many respects the book is the artists’ homage to the city,” Ms Attaullah said.

Rosa Falvo, an independent writer and curator, said she met Adeela in 2007 and it piqued her interest in the country that was elaborately contradictory and rich in culture.

“I felt that Adeela was a book in the making a long time ago,” she said. “The book covers over 20 years of her work.”

Rosa said she had interviewed several veteran artists for the book but the final chapters also saw what the younger artists’ voices were.

Adeela Suleman said she always looked outside the studio for inspiration and her biggest experience came from the Karachi University.

“Karachi University really made me realize what young people go through,” she said.

Another session was titled ‘Silence Inside a Gun’s Mouth” on the life of British-Pakistani film producer and poet Mahmood Jamal. The panelists included playwright and screenwriter at Channel 4 with Farrukh Dhondy, historian and academic Francis Robinson, linguist Bari Mian and Ahmed Mian, with moderator Nasreen Rehman.

Mahmood’s brother Bari Mian, Ahmad Jamal and Moin Jamal, sisters Humaira Jamal and Ameena Jamal and Farida Jamal.

“Mahmood was like a friend more than a brother to me,” said Bari Mian. “His love for poetry was instilled in him by my mother. Our mother would read us three books in particular, Bang-e-Dara, Musaddas-e-Hali and Shahnama-e-Islam.”

“Mahmood said something that I still remember. He used to say, ‘It’s worthwhile to hold on to memories, but let go of nostalgia’,” said his elder sister Farida and added, “This is what I have been trying to do since we lost him in December”.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2021