Art attack: Coming together to sketch

The group is the brainchild of five NCA graduates.

LAHORE: Over a dozen members of the Lahore Sketch Group (LSG), the brainchild of five graduates from the National College of Arts (NCA), gathered at the zoo on Sunday to indulge their passion for sketching.

Zahid Mayo, one of the group’s founding members, told The Express Tribune that most students at the NCA tended to forgo sketching after choosing a subject to major in. Mayo said the LSG’s members had enjoyed sketching even in university. “I always find an opportunity to just sit somewhere and sketch the scene unfolding before my eyes,” Mayo said.



Wajid Karim, another member, said the group afforded its members the opportunity of taking a breather from their hectic routines by coming together at a place of their choice. Karim said sketching at the Lahore Railway Station had been the most memorable experience for him. He said this was due to the ambience there. Sachal Rizvi, another member, said the group was not exclusive to artists. He said people from all walks of life had participated in the weekly activity. Zoha, a five-year-old, also became a de facto member of the group after observing Mayo and Rizvi sketch.

“Look! I sketched a giraffe for you guys,” she exclaimed.

Hamza Bajwa, another member, said during a visit to Berlin, he had observed that people were passionate about what they did. Bajwa said they also tended to join forces with each other. He said the basic idea behind the group was to enable people to visit places of interest across the city and observe the happenings there in a bid to connect with it. Bajwa said he additionally saw the group as a platform to further the idea of collaborative work.  He said the endeavour was an attempt to find beauty in places that usually came across ordinary and mundane.

Suleman Mengal, another member, said the zoo was a little too crowded for their liking. He said they had been hard pressed to find a place to sit as visitors were constantly at the move there.

Members of the LSG get together every week at a place of their choice to sketch. Originally conceived as an activity for friends the group has garnered a lot of publicity on social media.

The group intends to exhibit the work of its members after it finds the opportunity to collate sketches deemed fit for being showcased.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2015.