Edhi mural whitewashed moments after completion

Miscommunication leads to Korangi mural’s eradication

KARACHI: Their dream was to create art that would last forever but for artists SM Raza and Aqib Faiz, their mural in Korangi 2.5 lasted mere moments. They painted the likeness of Abdul Sattar Edhi, to pay tribute to the famous philanthropist, but were forced to whitewash their work moments later.

Ground zero 

On Mohammad Ramzan Chhipa Road in Korangi 2.5, a family donated the boundary wall of their home, Baitul Niaz, for the mural. The house is located next to Noman Foods and BarBQ Centre.

"We're feeling very proud at this moment in time that we are able to paint him. We always wanted to pay our kind respects to this great social worker but until now it was only a dream," Raza told The Express Tribune.



The artists painted the background blue and planned to draw the social worker's face in black and white. "I opted to paint it blue because the colour denotes spirituality," explained Raza.



"The location is very feasible; it's very near the main road and people will get to see it," he asserted. Faiz, who earlier painted a mural dedicated to the late qawwal, Amjad Sabri, in Korangi 5, said, "When Sabri's untimely death occurred, I wasn't too sure that I would be paying tribute to him by painting on a wall, however as I listened to one of his qawwalis, I realised I really needed to pay tribute to him". So the project came about and we decided to do a wall, with the help of an organisation called Visionary, which was dealing with the Wall of Kindness project, he explained. However, according to Faiz, differences arose between the two once Visionary took full credit for the project. "Hence we decided to search for a wall donor and my friend Sheikh Mohammad Hammad came to our rescue."

Tragedy strikes

Hammad said his family agreed to donate the wall out of sheer respect for Edhi. However, as the mural was nearing completion, tragedy struck. Hammad's father, Sheikh Mohammad Jalal, came out and demanded that the wall be restored to its original white and the mural be painted over immediately. Raza and Faiz were forced to whitewash the wall and their dreams of paying tribute to Edhi.

Faiz said that he was under the impression that Hammad had taken permission from his father.

"My father was away hence I wasn't able to take permission from him but I had agreed to allow the activity to continue," said Hammad. " However, later when I woke up, I realised my father had already ordered the whitewashing of the wall."

Hope at the end of the tunnel

Raza, who holds a degree in fine arts from University of Karachi, said he was 'overjoyed to pay tribute to living legend Edhi who has done so much for the orphans of the country'. But his joy was short-lived.

Now, since their hopes were dashed and everything was caught on camera, Raza and Faiz hope that people will come forward and pledge a wall for this cause.





Raza said they are hopeful they would be able to paint it again somewhere else.

Faiz, who is an eager student of contemporary artist Faruk Shehab said, "We are looking for sponsors to paint more walls outside Korangi."

"Edhi sahib's was a tribute that we painted using Rs8,000. For others we require support from the government or individual sponsors to come forward and help our cause," asserted Faiz.

Murals depicting Abida Perveen and Faiz Ahmad Faiz are two projects in the pipeline but Edhi's project will come before all others for the artist duo.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2016.