Changing perceptions: Psychiatrist-artist paints real Pakistanis — not terrorists

The exhibition titled ‘Expression and portraits from Pakistan’ launches on Wednesday.

KARACHI:

Dr Syed Ali Wasif describes himself as a “proud Pakistani in the land of pure”. Even though he is a psychiatrist by profession, Wasif has been heavily influenced by the great Sadequain and spends the majority of his time in Sindh’s countryside, observing the uncomplicated, patient people who are his muses.

His eleventh solo show, which took over two years to prepare, opens at the City Art Gallery on Wednesday, October 19. The collection of portraits ranges from those of wrinkled farmers, grinning village children and shy women. In his work, mostly oil on canvas or ivory card, he has attempted to give a face to the majority of Pakistan’s population.

“Psychiatry is a very difficult job,” he told The Express Tribune in a phone interview on Monday. “Yet it is the only profession where you see such a spectrum of emotions - pain, joy, confusion.” This professional insight into people’s emotions coupled with his mother’s artistic influence, shines through in the doctor’s work. His lines are sharp and determined, some of his work is almost menacing, yet, this is the contradiction between perception and reality that he hopes to bring forward.

The exhibition’s title shouts ‘We are no terrorists!’ - an observation Pakistanis have grown accustomed to.

“I travel a lot, I practice just two days a week, the rest of the time I’m free,” he said. “I go towards rural Sindh, and the most beautiful place for me, is Thar. I photograph the Thari women and children and then come home and [mull over] them and then something comes out of that.”

He describes the people he has seen in his travels as “down to earth, hospitable, non-violent people, rich with culture and heritage.” These people, he feels, are simple people who love their country. Yet, they are considered dispensable when it comes to calamities and threats when it comes to terrorism.

Wasif used the example of a girl living in a refugee tent - an IDP. She asked him what the acronym meant, when he told her it was “internally displaced person”, she looked disappointed. “I thought it was internally displaced Pakistani,” she muttered. “By labelling them IDPs, we have taken away their identity as Pakistanis,” the doctor lamented.

The driving force behind his latest exhibit is the anger that he feels about the generalisation of Pakistanis as ‘terrorists’. “When you go somewhere with your green passport they scan your irises and look at your passport in the same way as they look at a criminal right before he is being incarcerated. Yet terrorists probably don’t even count for 2% of our people.”

The City Art Gallery will open their doors to the public at 5:30 pm on Wednesday. Dr Wasif invites everyone to come and “view the reality from my blunt brush, the portraits are filled with the spectrum of emotional richness and diversity of cultures from Pakistan.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2011.