Remembering lost gems: KSA honours Lubna Agha by launching gallery in her name

Artist was first student at the institution when it was founded in 1964

KARACHI:

While little is done in the country to honour the services of master artists, it is heartening to see that at least the art schools are doing everything in their capacity for the sake of art.

The Karachi School of Arts (KSA) inaugurated the 'Lubna Agha Gallery' at its campus on Tuesday afternoon. The art gallery and a memorial have been named after the late Agha, who was the first student when the institution was founded as the Mina Art School in 1964. The Mina Art School was renamed KSA in 1970.

Lubna (1949-2012) was a Pakistani artist who won various accolades both nationally and internationally. She won the Ghalib Gold Medal and other awards during her lifetime. Her first show was exhibited in 1971 at Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, after which, she continued to paint in Pakistan and the United States.

The inauguration was followed by a display of her works revolving around art on paper. From the early works she did at KSA to many other themes she explored at a later stage, the exhibition was set up in her memory.

Talking to The Express Tribune, her husband and art lover, Yusuf Agha, talked about the many themes evident in Lubna's work. About the presence of trees and roots in her sketches, he said they symbolise her longing for her country. "Even though she stayed in the US for many years, her roots always [went back to] Pakistan," he said.

Yusuf also gave a small presentation to students on the many facets of Lubna's work as a social commentator, a thinking artist and someone who loved to challenge herself through her work. He had asked students if they had visited a retrospective exhibition of Lubna's work held at the VM Art Gallery. None of the students replied in the affirmative. "Unless you go to local shows, you will only be exposed to works of the West," he said. "But you will never belong to the West."

KSA founder Rabia Zuberi also paid her respects to the late artist, who was also her first student. "I loved her like my own daughter," she said, while addressing the students at the ceremony. "She was beautiful and talented. She worked a lot as an artist, much more than students like you do today."

Zuberi said Lubna loved to go outside and paint and she [Zuberi] used to take her to places for inspiration. "She came to me when she was very young and stayed with me for some four to five years," she said, adding that she had been very saddened by her death and hence opened a gallery in the name of her first student.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2016.