Colours of the wind: With the stroke of a brush, inmates create art behind bars

Of around 112 paintings on display, more than 30 pieces sold an hour after show opens.

KARACHI: There was a story in each art work on display.

One had two hands bound together with a rope, another had a boy holding a palette behind bars.

These paintings are how the artists - inmates at the Karachi Central Jail - narrated their tales.

"The prisoners do paint of freedom. Their lives are confined to a prison cell jail," said Sikandar Jogi, the man responsible for teaching the inmates how to express themselves through art. "Their work is mostly abstract."

Jogi started teaching art to prison inmates back in 2007. He was fresh out of art school when he found out about the job. Since 2008, he has been working day and night to showcase art created by his talented students.

On Saturday, Jogi's students displayed their artwork at an exhibition titled {ARTpeace} - a collection of 112 paintings at the ARTCITI art gallery.

The organisers said that through the exhibition, they aimed to encourage convicts to move on to a better life.

An hour after the show opened to the public, more than 30 works were sold. The paintings which were the creations of 13 prisoners, ranged from Rs7,000 to Rs9,000.

Jogi's favorite piece from this exhibition was of a running horse - an impression done by an inmate, Hasnain Raza.

Kazim Shah, another prisoner, used bright and vibrant colours in his abstract work. According to Jogi, he has worked with Shah for the last eight years and he was one of his oldest students. Jogi added that Shah had no background in art but his dedication and interest in the craft made him a fine artist.

"Prisoners are different from other artists," said Jogi while talking to The Express Tribune. "They go through bouts of loneliness and crisis and this comes out in their work."

An artist who has been sentenced to 204 years in jail, Aziz Bugti, painted a beautiful landscape painting of his village in Balochistan, a time when he was free.

People who came to see the show said that the exhibition was a good initiative. "At times like this when executions are taking place and the environment inside the prison is stressful - these events lighten up the mood of the inmates," said activist Iqbal Detho.

Laila Siddiqui who bought two abstract paintings said that she felt the prisoner's work held a strong message.

"The paintings depict the emotions of the inmates," she said. "Their hidden emotions - I love the work and feel that they all carry a message."

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2015.