KARACHI: In the early 1980s, actress Shehnaz Sheikh appeared on the Pakistani showbiz scene like a breath of fresh air. She starred in the iconic PTV drama series Ankahi penned by the inimitable Haseena Moin, and a couple of years later cemented her position as one of the finest actresses Pakistan has produced by performing exceedingly well in the play Tanhaiyan, also written by the late Ms Moin. After that, perhaps in the 1990s, for reasons best known to her, she kept away from the field of acting.

Not many know that Sheikh is a graduate of the National Col­lege of Arts, Lahore. It came as a pleasant surprise, at least for Karachiites, when last week an exhibition of her paintings titled Seventh Season opened at the Ocean Art Gal­lery. Pleasant, for sure, becau­­se the artworks are pretty special.

Given that she is multidimensional artist, her statement to inform the viewer on her creative output is also worth paying attention to: “Art is therapy for me without any intellectual compulsions… I just have fun with different colours and motifs, in different media — watercolour, markers, crayons, poster colours — somewhat like working on a colouring book for adults. The ingredients are all off the shelf, but the recipe is definitely my own. Oftentimes, I just play by the ear, finding my way through a maze of forms, motifs and colours, letting my hand guide me rather than my mind.”

This is an interesting way of describing the creation of art: hand guiding the mind. The mind suggests a rational approach to life (in this case, art). Sheikh is not one for rationality. It’s more of a free-spirited, not frenzied, attitude to painting. And it works well. The ‘Garden’ series (mixed media on paper) is a testimony to the claim.

The exhibition concludes today.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2025