Paintings immortalise poets’ work

Art gallery hosts exhibition honoring nexus of literature and the arts

ISLAMABAD:

An exhibition of paintings based on the poems of 20 contemporary poets was organised by the Katas Raj Art Gallery in collaboration with the Academy of Literature Pakistan at the academy’s conference hall.

The exhibition was inaugurated by prominent poet and the chief guest of the event, Iftikhar Arif. Paintings by Wasi Haider, MH Silhari, Mahmood Ali, Asif Iqbal, Ustad Jacob, Zafar Iqbal, Gulb Bhai and Amna Batool were included in the exhibition.

The contemporary poets, whose poems had been selected for the paintings included Iftikhar Arif, Salim Kausar, Yasmin Hameed, Ahmed Hussain Mujahid, Imdad Akash, Hameeda Shaheen, Rehman Hafeez, Khurshid Rabbani, Abid Siyal, Shamsher Haider, Shazia Akbar, Ihsan Shah, Dr Riaz Adil, Sajjad Baloch, Tayyab Raza, Imran Aami, Nadeem Bhabha, Naveed Haider Hashmi, Ahmed Attaullah Atta and Shakeel Jazeb.

Iftikhar Arif said “Painting is known as the oldest art in the arts, and it is also a historical fact that the interpretation of the first poetry was preserved on stones in the form of painting. The traces of civilizations are its witnesses.”

He added, “There are many signs of this in the last century in South Asia as well. Urdu poetry has its unique tradition in the form of images. Abdul Rehman Chughtai interpreted Ghalib and Iqbal while Sadiqain reflected Ghalib and Faiz’s poetry in pictures and among the modern painters, Aslam Kamal gave pictures to the words of Iqbal, Faiz and other poets.” He also appreciated Nauman Farooq's artistic efforts.

The President of the Academy of Literature, Pakistan, Dr Najiba Arif, said that the priority of the academy was to emphasise the collaboration of literature with other arts, so that people from different arts could understand each other's points of view and help each other and could benefit from each other’s movements.

Nauman Farooq, the curator of Katas Raj Art Gallery, said “According to me, all branches of fine arts grow from the same source. I have tried to combine the two branches of poetry and painting.” In the next phase, the gallery has planned to hold similar exhibitions with respect to other genres of literature. The exhibition was attended by writers, poets and people from other walks of life of the twin cities.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2024.