KARACHI: The final-year thesis show of the students at the Arts Council of Pakistan’s Institute of Arts and Crafts constitutes of striking artworks made by the young boys and girls belonging to the departments of fine art, textile design, graphic design and communication design.

Paintings and sculptures (in the fine art category) are on view at the Ahmed Pervez Gallery while works representing the other two categories are placed in Haseena Moin Hall.

It is such a delight to see the young artists — 31 in total out of which three have speech and hearing impairments — expressing themselves with the kind of abandon that’s essential to grow as creative souls.

It has to be said that in no time, the institute has managed to come out with artists who, for sure, have a bright future in a field in which Pakistan has already, in recent times, made its presence felt on a global scale.

Since it is difficult to point out individuals due to the large number of works on view, in general, one is impressed with the way the participating youngsters have used a considerable variety of media to put across an equally wide range of ideas.

Inaugurating the exhibition, writer Anwar Maqsood, who himself is a top-notch painter, said, “After a long time I have seen such good work. This [council’s] building needs to be celebrated because here all sorts of art-related activities — dance, music, painting etc — can take place.”

Caretaker Information Minister and Arts Council president Ahmed Shah said, “In the last one or two years, the Arts Council has produced a big number of young artists, a feat that not even reputed [art] institutes have been able to achieve. We are going to begin masters’ course for the students in order for them to move ahead in terms of innovation and creativity.”

The show concludes on Wednesday (today).

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2024