KARACHI: The mini thesis show of third-year students at the Arts Council Institute of Arts and Crafts (ACIAC) began at the Ahmed Pervaiz Gallery on Wednesday. It will conclude today (Friday). No fewer than 20 young boys’ and girls’ artworks are on display. They were liked by a big number of art lovers and mediamen who attended the opening ceremony.

Provincial Minister of Sindh for Labour Saeed Ghani was the chief guest on the occasion. He appreciated the paintings on view claiming that it was difficult to pick which one was better than the other. He lauded the way the council had been functioning, getting transformed from a deserted (veeran) cultural space to a bustling one where activities keep happening on a regular basis.

The council’s President Ahmed Shah said the focus of his team at the ACIAC is on those students who come from the working class backgrounds. He argued that the affluent segment of society can afford to send their children abroad to grab more opportunities, but it is the less privileged which need attention.

20 students put their works on display

It’s nice to see young artists employing a variety of media to express themselves visually – oil on canvas, watercolor on paper etc. But what’s heartening is to notice the wide array of ideas that they have touched upon through their works. They range from the loss of a parent to selfdiscovery and from the pangs of mental illness to the efforts required for a collective struggle. It wouldn’t be wrong to suggest that all of them should be appreciated. And yet, the young Yasir Noor’s watercolor paintings stand out both in terms of his craft and the choice of subject. He calls it Dhund (fog or mist) which he attributes to ‘a particular event in my childhood’. In a broader context, it reminded this writer of Eugene O’Neill’s poignant play Long Day’s Journey into Night.

The other participating artists are: Zarnaab Baloch, Zeenat Khan, Habiba Mujeeb, Bakhtiar Ahmed, Lewis Sabir, Aakash Jivraj, Sehar Afsha, M Darab

Munir, M Jawwad Hassan, Fatima Khan, Shahzad Baloch, Wassama Baloch, Uzma Rehman, Kiran Aslam, Kabeer Atta Mohammad, Stephen Yaqoob, Naheed Noor, Muhammad Ashiq and Azka Lateef.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2022