KARACHI: The three-day thesis display of the third-year Communication Design students at the Arts Council Institute of Arts and Crafts (ACIAC) concluded on Wednesday.

It garnered appreciation from art lovers, including eminent artist and writer Anwar Maqsood who saw the show on its opening day, because of the fine quality of work put on display by the eight participating young boys and girls.

Despite the not so big number of students whose work was on view, the subjects they dealt with had a wide scope, ranging from the quick-paced life in a metropolis to personal predicament to a sense of enjoyment that humans create when faced with psychological confinements.

Mini Thesis Show concludes

Talking to Dawn on Wednesday, one of the artists Asad Ali said, “It’s a mini-thesis display where students are asked to put on view projects in the form of a group project or individual tasks. It’s a four-year diploma course, and this is our third year. The first year is to do with internal functioning and the second year is linked to the technical board. Then the third year is about the mini thesis and the fourth is the major one.”

The media that the artists used to express themselves included photographs, videos and illustrations.

Two of the students, Fizza Fatima and Saira Iqbal, cannot hear or speak. Their works spoke volumes for their talent. Expanding on her work with the help of a sign language interpreter, Fizza said, “My topic is ‘sad day’. I’m saying through my work, ‘stop bullying’. I feel lonely when people speak in front of me. When no one helps me, I feel angry and alone.”

Saira’s work was titled ‘Enjoy my life’. She said, “I’m happy that I’m deaf. I’m happy that I’m not like others, I’m not selfish. People like us [hearing-impaired] look after themselves but also help others.”

Saira’s work is alphabet-based, indicating one of the ways to communicate with each other. Both the brave and talented girls, after completing their course, wish to do jobs to put their learning to good use.

The rest of the participants were: M Nazeef Shaikh, K Mubashir Saeed, Sachin Ramjee, Zeenat Soomro and Akash Kumar.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2022