The Faiz photo exhibition

LAHORE: The week-long centennial celebrations of legendary poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz inaugurated yesterday on February 7 with a photographic exhibition depicting various phases of the poet's life at the Alhamra Art Gallery in Lahore.

Dr Mehdi Hasan from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan's (HRCP), inaugurated the exhibition while Faiz's friend and known journalist IA Rehman was also present at the occasion.

The National College of Arts' (NCA) former principal and daughter of Faiz Salima Hashmi told The Express Tribune that another exhibition of the same kind was also being held in Delhi as a tribute to the legendary poet. "People are holding exhibitions at different places. We have sent soft copies of these pictures to the Progressive Writers Association and Delhi so that they could have prints themselves. The copies of these photographs are available at Faiz Ghar if someone wants to buy them," she said.

Moneeza Hashmi, daughter of the poet and grandchildren Mira Hashmi and Adeel Hashmi also graced the exhibition with their presence.

The photographs were a clear reflection that highlighted various aspects of the poet's personality. While perusing through the photographs viewers saw the other side of the legendary poet. Faiz was an eminent intellectual, an accurate journalist, a loving friend, a revolutionary writer, a rebel against tyranny, a family oriented individual and an affectionate mentor.

The photographs captured glimpses of the poet's life between 1944 till his death in 1984.

While one of the pictures exhibited for display beautifully captures Faiz dressed in a traditional Kazakh costume in the village of Russian poet Rasul Hamzatov in Kazakhstan in 1964, other photographs reveal different modes of the poet during his stay in London in 1962 and 1976.

Another interesting photograph of Faiz that caught attention was the one where he is seen reciting at a Delhi Mushaira in 1955 with several prominent names of that age also present in the picture. In another picture taken in 1956, a softer side of the poet is revealed with Faiz seen laughing at Buddha in China.

On a more serious note, pictures of the poet in 1944 show him at the Civil Secretariat in Delhi where he is captured wearing an army uniform at a press conference. Professional images of the poet reveal him standing outside the office of The Pakistan Times, the newspaper that he headed as Editor.

In extension to all his work being captured in photographs, Faiz was also honoured with the Lenin Peace Prize in 1962 in Moscow for this poetic work.

With all the pictures being dedicated to the poet's life, some images caught him standing with political figures like Yasser Arfat in Beirut while others saw him being honoured by Atal Behraj Vajpayee. Some other photographs showed Faiz with Ustad Daman, Uzbek writer Aibek, Ahmad Faraz, Iftikhar Arifa and others.

The exhibition saw a number of fans taking avid interest in the poet's life and brought riveting images of Faiz forward. The exhibition runs till February 13. Salima Hashmi said, "This exhibition has formally inaugurated the centennial celebrations by Faiz Ghar. A lot of guests are coming from India and other countries and all of them are coming on their own expenses. This exhibition is moveable as we have the soft copies of the prints available and don't have to carry these photographs to different places so we can just email these prints to any place and have an exhibition there".

The exhibition is the first event of the week-long celebrations; stay tuned to learn more about the centennial celebrations that follow.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2011.