Chitarkari and Banyan
Book on tombstone art Launched at PNCA.
ISLAMABAD:
Writer, artist and peace activist Fauzia Minallah’s interesting book on tombstone art was launched here at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) last evening with an over-enthusiastic crowd of guest speakers who left little space and time for the author and artist herself.
A mountebank was traditionally a quacks accomplice in that this ‘hawker’ would literally mount a knoll or a bank and shout and goad customers on to buy the quacks wares, being very uninhibited in the process. Modern day versions of this individual include the slightly deranged atop milk crates, as seen abroad in speakers corners in public parks or in more indigenous versions, those in pulpits or on podiums. I had written before on how events in the city are often peopled by far too many guest speakers and only touched upon their ‘two cents’. I feel that now I can expand upon the latter here.
One would not necessarily associate the funereal with art but in a local art form, the Chitarkari or slate carving, one finds a very demure, literally ashen art that is quite simply beautiful. Usually adorning and marking grave sites, the slates themselves can often be found as long columns, even obelisk like shapes, heading and footing graves, embellished with geometric patterns. Quite on the flip side to this decoration in stone and a seemingly desperate compliment, the artist and activist, Fauzia Minallah, in a very inspired move, has married together these slates with the banyan tree, almost mythological in its significance, creating a series of photographs in the process, brought together, along with her writings in her new book Chitarkari and Banyans: The Pursuit of Identity.
The artist has taken this overtly unassuming art form beyond its original meaning to produce a number of carvings that are austere in their simplicity but quite striking in this quality. The motifs remain very geometric but within these flowing forms, Ms Minallah has drawn upon other fluid shapes, using the slates as canvas and etching upon them the figures of traditional dancers that are quite sweeping. But with these variations, the artist also keeps to the solemnness of the work by inscribing images of the Buddha, in silhouette and in form that elicit certain awe.
The banyan, is quite unique it its cultural and religious significance. As the traditions go, it was under this very tree that the Buddha found enlightenment, its seeming meditative qualities an inspiration to many. While perusing through the book, one will find many a picture of the Buddha rejoined to the Banyan, the artist’s slates, sitting quietly in repose underneath these outspread trees. With this creative effort the artist has intended to highlight this traditional craft but also, combining her activism with her work, to speak out against the loss of so many pre-Islamic sites and works. In particular, the artists cited the burning of the famous Buddha tree in Islamabad and the defacement of many Buddhist carvings in Swat.
But returning to the original thesis, this main event, the artist speaking and the subsequent exhibition of her work were unfortunately delayed to a great deal by the ramblings, though well intentioned of the guest speakers that had to be literally called off the stage. The night had quite a political bend, with many an activist gracing the stage and reeling off accusations against past and present governments and their ‘contributions’ to the city. One does not argue with their particular points of view but where one must detract is the near usurpation of the stage and the incoherencies that were thus spewed. Nearly every speaker was almost a little too forthcoming, Ms Minallah coming on stage like an anti climax. If temperance and restraint were being extolled on the night that in the common adage, one should practice what they preach.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 23rd, 2010.
Writer, artist and peace activist Fauzia Minallah’s interesting book on tombstone art was launched here at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) last evening with an over-enthusiastic crowd of guest speakers who left little space and time for the author and artist herself.
A mountebank was traditionally a quacks accomplice in that this ‘hawker’ would literally mount a knoll or a bank and shout and goad customers on to buy the quacks wares, being very uninhibited in the process. Modern day versions of this individual include the slightly deranged atop milk crates, as seen abroad in speakers corners in public parks or in more indigenous versions, those in pulpits or on podiums. I had written before on how events in the city are often peopled by far too many guest speakers and only touched upon their ‘two cents’. I feel that now I can expand upon the latter here.
One would not necessarily associate the funereal with art but in a local art form, the Chitarkari or slate carving, one finds a very demure, literally ashen art that is quite simply beautiful. Usually adorning and marking grave sites, the slates themselves can often be found as long columns, even obelisk like shapes, heading and footing graves, embellished with geometric patterns. Quite on the flip side to this decoration in stone and a seemingly desperate compliment, the artist and activist, Fauzia Minallah, in a very inspired move, has married together these slates with the banyan tree, almost mythological in its significance, creating a series of photographs in the process, brought together, along with her writings in her new book Chitarkari and Banyans: The Pursuit of Identity.
The artist has taken this overtly unassuming art form beyond its original meaning to produce a number of carvings that are austere in their simplicity but quite striking in this quality. The motifs remain very geometric but within these flowing forms, Ms Minallah has drawn upon other fluid shapes, using the slates as canvas and etching upon them the figures of traditional dancers that are quite sweeping. But with these variations, the artist also keeps to the solemnness of the work by inscribing images of the Buddha, in silhouette and in form that elicit certain awe.
The banyan, is quite unique it its cultural and religious significance. As the traditions go, it was under this very tree that the Buddha found enlightenment, its seeming meditative qualities an inspiration to many. While perusing through the book, one will find many a picture of the Buddha rejoined to the Banyan, the artist’s slates, sitting quietly in repose underneath these outspread trees. With this creative effort the artist has intended to highlight this traditional craft but also, combining her activism with her work, to speak out against the loss of so many pre-Islamic sites and works. In particular, the artists cited the burning of the famous Buddha tree in Islamabad and the defacement of many Buddhist carvings in Swat.
But returning to the original thesis, this main event, the artist speaking and the subsequent exhibition of her work were unfortunately delayed to a great deal by the ramblings, though well intentioned of the guest speakers that had to be literally called off the stage. The night had quite a political bend, with many an activist gracing the stage and reeling off accusations against past and present governments and their ‘contributions’ to the city. One does not argue with their particular points of view but where one must detract is the near usurpation of the stage and the incoherencies that were thus spewed. Nearly every speaker was almost a little too forthcoming, Ms Minallah coming on stage like an anti climax. If temperance and restraint were being extolled on the night that in the common adage, one should practice what they preach.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 23rd, 2010.