A new mantra: Abdoz Arts hopes to bring about a ‘renaissance’ through wall art

Qalam Dawat Abdoz is the recent initiative that Abdoz Arts has taken up.

KARACHI:

'Qalam Dawat Abdoz' and 'educating through the walls' is the new mantra of Abdoz Arts.

Abdoz is a cause taken up by three boys who study at different universities. Irked by hateful speech and ridiculous wall chalking across the city, they embarked upon a journey of 'freeing the walls'. Last month, they had focused on Karachi University which had nothing but political posters and chalking on its walls.

This time, Abdoz founder Humble Tariq believes that their purpose has enhanced and they have a responsibility to educate through art.

"Beautifying isn't enough," he said. "Qalam Dawat Abdoz is important because through these messages we encourage people to be imaginative. We want to allow people to come up with innovative ideas. We want to make them so creative that we experience a renaissance. It will be the beginning of a new era."

'Qalam' is the Urdu word for pen and 'dawat' means inkpot. Both symbols serve the purpose well enough.

Tariq spoke to The Express Tribune while showing a wall at the Sir Syed Government Girls College (SSGGC) which had been painted with a welcome message. The college got the artwork done to welcome the freshmen on the orientation day.

Abdoz co-founder Umer Asim agrees with Tariq. "Art is not only a decorator," he said. "We want to educate people through art. Through Qalam Dawat Abdoz, we feel that we can use art as a weapon to purge our society of evils."

The artwork was bright and colourful. Various encouraging and inspirational messages were inscribed on it, such as 'Think', 'Learn', 'Read', 'Try', 'Fail', 'Struggle' and 'Believe' among others. The finances were taken care of by Abdoz in collaboration with the college.

"It is the first time that a public college has released funds for something like this," said Tariq. "The students committee council greatly backed us." Abdoz operations manager Wahaj Ali Khan told The Express Tribune that Abdoz Arts chipped in funds when the college could not cover all costs.

"The students wanted a colourful activity," he said. "They wanted a welcome message for the newcomers."

The principal of the college was also very supportive, said Asim.

Explaining how they had accomplished getting graffiti done on a 45-foot-long wall, Tariq said that it was not easy. "This is one of our largest projects," he said. "We used to come after our classes in the daytime to finish it and it was very hectic. At night, we couldn't work properly because of load-shedding."

Faizan Sheikh alias Rebel is the artist who painted the wall at the college. "My aim is to encourage the young minds to think out of the box," he said.

Aiman Batool Jafri, who is a member of the students committee council at the college, is very happy with the work. "The idea behind this work of art is to make those, who enter the college, feel that they are heartily welcomed," she said. "The wall welcomes all the students of first year who are now a part of the college."

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2014.