Preserving history through art: Walled City sisters paint damaged frescoes afresh

Naqsh School of Arts graduates replicate frescoes from 12 Mughal era sites.

LAHORE:

Frescoes embossing the ceiling of Jehangir’s Tomb and inlays on the walls of Asif Jah and Ali Mardan’s tomb took sisters Afshan Ejaz and Noshi Ejaz, also residents of the Walled City, about a year to paint accurately.

“The frescoes on Jehangir’s Tomb’s ceiling are floral and full of colour but it is not easy to replicate them onto a sheet using enamel,” says Noshi, who graduated from the Naqsh School of Arts (NSA) with honours in 2007.

Noshi and her sister Afshan, also a Naqsh graduate, attempted to recreate the decorative inlays and frescoes of Jehangir’s Tomb over 20 times before getting the balance right.

Over the last year, the two sisters have accurately documented decorative works of 12 monuments across Lahore. As many as 93 pieces, including frescoes, sketches of monuments, and tile replicas are on display at the Nairang Gallery. The materials used include enamel, pastel and water colours, clay, pen ink and water.

The sisters, residents of Bhati Gate who attended NSA, a Babar Ali Foundation project to extend art education to the underprivileged, felt that they had to utilise their education “to preserve history through art.”

Speaking with The Express Tribune, Noshi and Afshan said we felt the need to properly document the decorative parts as no artist before had handled the detailed naqashi work on Mughal-era monuments of Lahore properly.

The twelve sites selected include Chauburji, Shalamar Gardens, Lahore Fort, tombs of Dai Anga, Ali Mardan, Jehangir, Noor Jehan, and her brother Asif Jah. Parts of the decorations on the insides of three mosques – Badshahi, Wazir Khan and Begum Shahi – have also been replicated by the two artists.

Afshan said Mehmoodul Hassan Rumi, the former NSA principal, had extended his full support for the project.

“This is the first time anyone from NSA is displaying work at an exhibition. About four batches have passed out and no one has had the resources to do so before,” said Afshan, 25.

She said all the pieces have been made on Lasaani (plywood) sheets, a material not usually used to recreate frescoes. “We wanted to introduce a different material. One sees a lot of work on canvas, wasli and paper but Lasaani is not used widely as yet,” she said.

The sisters shared their difficulty in approaching some sites and painting the damaged part of these old structures.

“Ali Mardan’s Tomb in Baghbanpura was particularly difficult to reach…A railway track passes through it and rumour has it that the spot has many snakes. We were told by people living in its vicinity not to go in,” Noshi said.

“Asif Jah’s Tomb is also far off. Its structure is in a dilapidated condition and one has to touch it to make out the pattern of the damaged inlay work. Bringing out the colour combinations requires careful study,” she said.

Noshi attended Victoria Girls High School and Chunna Mandi College in the Walled City before enrolling in NSA.

Afshan said, “We tried to implement the most important lesson we learned at school…We were told not to paint sitting in a class room, but to go out and let our imaginations tell us what to paint.”

“We did not recognise the treasures of the Walled City until we learned to observe our surroundings through an artist’s eye, not a resident’s eye,” she said.

Nayyar Ali Dada, owner of the Nairang Gallery, was impressed with the work. He said he is pondering the idea of incorporating some of the fresco designs made by the two artists on ceramics, including tiles and pottery.

“No one does this type of work anymore. Documenting the historical sites is a public service. Its appeal will increase if applied to ceramics,” he siad

Rumi, former principal of NSA, said, “We can say this work is our own. It was invented and developed by our forefathers…it is important to encourage it among art students.”

“Art institutions have set out to promote modern and abstract art but they should encourage students to seek inspiration from traditional form of arts instead,” he said.

Students regularly displayed their work at the NSA but this is the first time they have had the opportunity to showcase their work at an art gallery, he said.

The show will run till November 9.

Naqsh School of Arts

The Naqsh School of Arts was set up in Bhaati Gate in part of the Wazir Ali Haveli in 2002 by Syed Babar Ali, a renowned entrepreneur and founder of the Babar Ali Foundation. At the time, it charged students Rs200 a month and provided art material.

Teachers at the school trained students in four disciplines – portrait, still life, live drawing and calligraphy. Recently Naheed Rizvi, former Lahore Museum director and director general of the Walled City project, has joined the school as a principal.

Initially the school was set up to encourage residents of the Walled City to take up art education, but the NSA has now enrolled non-Walled City residents too.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2012.