Freedom Fair: Out of sight but not out of mind

Second Fair by the Palestine Liberation Foundation Pakistan (PLFP) opens at the Arts Council to show solidarity.

KARACHI:

A colourless Palestinian flag pinned on to the Arts Council wall comforts the Palestinians that ‘we [Pakistani students] can feel your pain’. Life is still waiting, it reads.

The modified flag is part of the exhibition at the two-day Freedom Fair organised for the second time by the Palestine Liberation Foundation Pakistan (PLFP). Art students, photojournalists and political activists joined hands and pens to show solidarity with Palestinians’ suffering.

“We may be far away from Palestine and we cannot share the people’s pain but we can at least show them that we stand by them,” explained Mustafa, the young artist who made the flag hanging by the entrance. It is “an attempt on my part to show that we are trying to help”.

The exhibition comprised three broad components including art models and sculptures made by students and artists. The garden housed the photo exhibition and a large banner bearing the legend ‘skyline of revolutions’. A total of 25 students from the Karachi University’s visual arts department spent a week creating models for the exhibition.

Sabir Karbalai, the organiser and PLFP’s central spokesperson, explained that the display focused on freedom movements all over the world. “The main purpose of the exhibition is to unite the Muslim ummah.  We wish to send a message from here to the sufferers that we stand by them.”

A visual arts student, Jahanzaib, told The Express Tribune that he is proud to contribute to the cause. “Before this project, I only knew as much about the situation in Palestine as I know about Kashmir.”

Jahanzaib used candles to represent the Palestinian flag. The burning green, black and red candles were bound in chains, much like the struggling Palestinians, while the tranquil white ones stood unlit at the borders, representing the youth of the country. A withered tree stood nearby - a metaphor for dead ancestors - with a Star of David in the background and scattered nails symbolising those who died in the struggle.

Another piece that captivated the audience was a very accurate metal model of Masjid Aqsa with a bird chained to it. The chain was made entirely of little Stars of David.

In a separate room, caricatures and photographs displayed a macabre version of the atrocities of war on the people in Palestine. Work by 12 photojournalists depicted several protests held in the country for Palestinians’ rights.

Jamaat-e-Islami Vice-President Prof Abdul Ghafoor also visited the fair. “People in Palestine are not fighting against any one person, community or nation, they are fighting for their rights,” he said. Expressing his support for the central African revolts, he said that the uprisings in the “entire Muslim ummah countries are not mere fights but revolutions in the true sense” and will boost morale in Palestine as well.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th, 2011.