The artist’s paintings exhibited at Alhamra on The Mall. PHOTO: AYESHA MIR/EXPRESS
Mazhar was 22 when he met a tragic accident that rendered him partially paralysed and took away his ability to speak. Over time, Mazhar who endured five brain surgeries, learnt how to paint with his left hand. At the exhibit, he was seen going around the display and interacting with those present on the occasion.
“I am too excited to sit down,” Mazhar’s mother told The Express Tribune. “I am just proud of him and ecstatic that people have come to appreciate his work. The exhibition is his sister’s brainchild,” she said.
Arshia Qasim, Mazhar’s sister, said their mother had called her one day while she was abroad to inform her that Mazhar could use his left hand. She said the development followed months of dejection as efforts to rehabilitate him had not been borne fruit. Qasim said she had told her to hand him a paper and a pencil. She said the first things he had sketched were a pair of hands outstretched in prayer and eyes brimming with tears. “The etchings were squiggly. Yet, this was a breakthrough in testing times,” Qasim said. She said all they had done was provide him with a medium and a sudden burst of creativity had followed. “It left us astounded,” she said.
Mazhar had enrolled at the Punjab University’s BFA programme on the counsel of painter Ajaz Anwar, who had home tutored him. He graduated in 2014, later than most of his peers due to the absence of facilities for students of his ilk.
Qasim said Mazhar had been studying accounting before the accident. “One of his greatest strengths was his eloquence,” she said. Qasim said the accident had left him bereft of his chief strength. “He was known everywhere as an articulate individual who had the gift of a charming voice. The accident rendered him voiceless,” Qasim said.
She said the work displayed varied from 2008 to 2015. Qasim said select drawings of his had been showcased as they depicted the physical progress of his left hand. “He had to relearn how to use his other hand. This is a feat in itself,” she said. Qasim said the exhibition had been organised to portray his struggle, prowess and his personal evolution along with that of his work. Islamabad resident Mrs Ayaz Durrani, who procured three of Mazhar’s paintings even before the show had commenced, said her relatives had directed her to the exhibition. She said she had bought one painting for herself and two for her daughters. “I had come to encourage Mazhar but it’s me who is leaving the event inspired,” Mrs Durrani said. Artist Zulfikar Ali Zulfi said Mazhar’s talent and will to learn had bowled him over. “I counselled him a year ago to zero down on a subject. He has what it takes to become a great if he remains in the same frame of mind,” Zulfi said.
The exhibition will conclude on Thursday (today).
Published in The Express Tribune, December 3rd, 2015.
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