Falling into disrepair
Since its construction during the defunct state period, the building has never seen the day of repair and renovation. The old structure, comprising a hall and side-rooms, has a mighty minaret as well. In the upper portion of the minaret, an empty and hollow space indicates that there might be a clock tower affixed to it. However, the history is quiet on the issue.
So worst is now the situation that the entire building and rooms have left with no signs of plaster while broken floors need urgent repairs. The Punjab and district governments should give their undivided attention to the repair and preservation of the historic building, the heritage of the defunct state.
Market Committee chairman Syed Mueed Shah said that an estimated amount of Rs2.5 million for the renovation plan of the old building had been forwarded for approval to the Punjab government. During a round to the market committee office, it is also observed that grain market roads are also in bad shape. Growers and farmers visiting the market also face shortage of facilities for the sale of their commodities. It appears that the market committee has also taken no interest even in carrying out the patchwork of roads since long.
Virtually, the deteriorating working of the market committee began with its politicizing. After the enforcement of devolution plan in the country, such institutions were given under the administrative control of the respective district nazims. Presently, the nominees of district nazims are looking after the affairs of market committees, who are dealing them politically.
Mueed Shah said that a new sabzi mandi costing about Rs120 million was being developed by the market committee on Ahmedpur Road near Karachi Morr. It would be completed within a year, he said.
PUBLIC circles have given vent to their disquiet over the complaints of vulgarity on stage dramas at a local private theatre. Since the theatre is located within the Cantonment Board’s boundary, the district administration has no powers to conduct raids on the theatre or check scripts of dramas being staged there. The theatre is said to be run by a contractor.
To earn lucratively, immoral dramas are allowed to be staged there, violating the norms of a cultured society. Indecent dialogues by artistes and objectionable costumes of female characters are all that the scripts of every stage drama offer to its audience.
In the recent past, the Rashadia Hall, which is administered by Bahawalpur Art Council, had been the venue of such vulgar stage plays. The effective check on obscene dialogues and costumes of female artistes forced drama organisers to shift their “business” to a private theatre.
The district government should take up the matter with the Cantonment Board officials to sort out the matter and take joint measures to check vulgarity in the private theatre and provide healthy entertainment to citizens.
Following public complaints about the slow pace of work on the dualisation of Ahmedpur road from Fowara Chowk to Karachi Mor, district nazim Tariq Cheema has directed the highways department to complete its first portion up to Sadiq Public School by March 30.
The nazim has desired the completion of the project worth Rs 110 milion by June 30.
Artists relying on text
AN exhibition titled ‘talespinning’ that has been curated by Atiqa Ali and opened recently at Lahore’s Croweaters Gallery, brings together six young artists whose highly individualistic works are likely to evoke a mixed response from the audience. For those seeking a form expression that relies on a more conventional means of creating art works, the narratives of many of the artists will be an enigma, and for those appreciative of experimental forms of expression that depends more on an exploration of ideas and less on application of techniques will find the work interesting and thought provoking.
The six artists — Naiza Khan, Alia Hasan Khan, Shajia Azam, Ayaz Jhokio, Ayesha Jatoi and Ahsan Jamal — all work in a variety of mediums and a few selected pieces by each represents their current preoccupations.
Naiza Khan is already well-known for her artist-cum-activist style and her innovative methods of conveying her messages. In this exhibition, she has contributed three pieces which focus on a few words that are painted on wood and then covered with a heavy layer of latex and pigment in tints and shades of amber. For example, the tryptych – ‘Tayyar – Intazar – Khamosh’ with the large calligraphic inscription of each of these words carefully smothered in the luminous many layers suggest the act of being hushed, or restrained and invoke these feelings in the viewer, and convey a message in a very subtle way.
Alia Hasan Khan’s work is in a completely different manner and she uses photography to create a set of postcards with a detailed narrative printed on the other side of the image. The visuals focus on spaces related to modern day travel experiences such as an airport lobby, a bus stop or a train station and the text expresses, through a variety of narratives, the anxieties of travel faced by Muslims in particular, in a paranoid post 9/11 world.
Shajia Azam has her own style of commenting on socio-political issues and brings wit and humour to her series of caricature like drawings in pen and ink. Her 40 ‘books’ – each which consists of two pages containing a caricature and an inscription, give the viewer a number of pithy images and statements that include both personal viewpoints as well as comments on current happenings. ‘With love from Abu Gharib’, ‘home of the hybrid’ and other statements like ‘ask not what your wife can do for you – as what she can do to you’, can tickle the viewer with both sarcasm and humour.
Ayaz Jhokio’s expression is perhaps the most unconventional and minimalist, and he attempts to create an image in the viewers’ mind by the use of text and his 'non-image’ approach. The paradox lies in trying to create an image by the lack of it, if the viewer is so inclined to make the expected effort. His canvases mimic the backside of photographs with their white surfaces and the perfectly painted stamps which imitate those used by film manufacturers like Agfa, Kodak or Fuji colour. These do indeed make the canvases look like the reverse side of very large photographs. On these Ayaz scribbles comments or titles in paint just in the same manner as one would label personal photographs. Thus the only clue to what is in the artists mind is supplied by the text and the viewer is free to imagine the 'picture’. Some may find this ludicrous, while others may enjoy his audaciousness.
Also minimal, though less provoking, are the works of Ayesha Jatoi who creates her own version of 'illuminated manuscripts’ but unlike the detailed images found in the ancient versions of manuscripts. Ayesha uses the two 'non colours’ – black and white and their intermediaries to create delicate and minimal patterns that may be supplemented with a fine but informally written text that attempts to express something mystical. In one of the more heavily worked pieces she has a minute English script arranged all over the page in vertical and horizontal rows which on close inspection reveal the words of a Sufi song rendered by Abida Parveen. Ayesha’s work has an ethereal, lyrical quality that invokes a soothing response through the delicate and sparsely painted surfaces.
Ahsan Jamal’s miniatures are perhaps nearer to conventional expression than the other works and his colours and images show that he can straddle easily between abstraction and realism. He too however, uses a lot of text which becomes a part of the overall composition. His narratives relate to the 'partition’ between India and Pakistan and attempt to comment on the anomalies of the situation.
The common bond between the six artists is the use of text, each one displaying his or her usage of it and the messages though separate, are related to conditions or situations familiar to many. Thus 'talespinning’ is an interesting journey into the minds of various young contemporary artists and indicates one of the many directions in which our art is moving towards.