PESHAWAR: Azra Nafees Yousafzai, a resident of Dir, claims that she is the first woman artist to paint on dry and smooth sea stones and pebbles to promote peace narrative, raise awareness for women and minority rights, Sufism, local culture and significance of biodiversity and wildlife.

In an informal chat with this scribe, she said that being a restless soul, she experienced composing poetry, rights activism, gardening, baking and teaching and enjoyed varied tastes including reading, writing, wall art, interior decoration, embroidery and stitching. She said that two years ago she discovered another talent in herself and that was the art of rock painting, which provided her with a spiritual pleasure.

“My inspiration was my parents because they were artists, especially my father, who was a university teacher, poet and noted calligrapher. He made us to discover ourselves and pursue our own dreams and would often motivate me and my other siblings to continue discover and rediscover ourselves. I first did Masters in economics and joined banking then I did Masters in English literature and education and joined teaching profession but again I did a diploma from the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi,” she said.

Azra Nafees Yousafzai wants to conduct exhibition of her artworks in Peshawar

Ms Yousafzai said she used to contribute a feature on Pakistani textile to the Oxford Magazine for several years but unfortunately she was struck with an accident in 2016 in which she lost her small son and it proved a complete halt to her otherwise pleasurable life activities and even made her a traumatised patient.

She said that she didn’t give up and continued rediscovering her inner self. She said that one day she set on a long drive along the bank of river in Karachi and picked up some sea stones and began painting on them and suddenly that experience helped her open a new window into a novel art and in 2018, it had already grown into a full-fledged art form.

“I have over 100 rock painting pieces in my home gallery. I have recently launched a Facebook page where I receive orders from across the country and abroad. I have numerous fans and clients and till now have received an overwhelming response in the form of appreciative comments as I can say for sure that I am the first person at least in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to have a mastery over painting on sea stones and pebbles,” she claimed.

Ms Yousafzai said that she wanted to focus peace, women and minority rights, pluralistic society through her art. She said that she wanted to conduct maiden exhibition of her craft and unique art in Peshawar but needed government’s assistance.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2020