KARACHI: An exhibition of sculptures made by artists representing the province and organised by the Sindh culture department titled Tarash opened at the Sambara Art Gallery on Wednesday.

The variety of exhibits on view is astounding. Pieces made in all kinds of media — metal, wood, fibreglass etc — attract the attention of the viewer in no time primarily because of the true-to-life vibe they give off.

Talking to Dawn, the director general of the culture department, Abdul Aleem Lashari, said, “This is the first sculpture show held by the culture department. Before that painting and photography exhibitions have been held, but this time around we wanted to, which is our main aim, give sculptors of Sindh a platform to showcase their talent. As you know, there are galleries that exhibit paintings and photographs, but there are not enough for the display of sculptures. So we thought our gallery is a platform that could be used for that purpose.”

On the participating creative individuals, Mr Lashari said, “There are approximately 100 artists taking part in this event but the number of pieces on view is 200. We haven’t given them a theme or subject to sculpt, it’s an open event. Again, the reason is that we only wanted to provide them with a space to show what they’re capable of. Also, if we had kept a theme, a limited number of artists would’ve come, and you know a sculpted work requires time to be made. We’ve also taken the decision that if an exhibit is sold, the entire amount would be given to the artist.”

He was all praise for Culture Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah for lending his full support to the gallery.

The curator of the exhibition, Mansoor Zuberi whose impressive pieces made in fibreglass are on view as well, said, “The idea of holding the event was to bring forth those artists from Sindh who are hidden (chhupey huay hain). We’ve looked for them and brought them here.”

Answering a question on the creative spirit of artists in the province, he pointed out that such kind of work carries spiritual elements (roohani hota hai).

The exhibition concludes on Oct 31.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2021