The Culture Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is mulling over a plan to set up a permanent art gallery to facilitate local artists.
This was disclosed by Secretary for Culture Department and Managing Director of Tourism Corporation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Azam Khan during his visit to the exhibition of paintings by Associate Professor Dr Ghulam Shabbier that ended on Sunday after receiving a positive response from the art lovers and people in general.
Azam Khan took round of the 31 art pieces exhibited at the Nishtar Hall by a literary, cultural and social welfare organisation Gandhara Hindko Board in collaboration with the Culture Department.
Praising the paintings, the secretary said these reflected different aspects of the cultural life of the Walled City and signified the keen observations of the artist who was born and raised in this city. He also selected two paintings for the Culture Department.
Azam Khan said there was no dearth of talent in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which excelled in several fields, art being one of them.
The secretary said the local talent needed to be officially supported, adding the Culture Department would make every effort to promote the art and culture as it was direly needed to portray a soft image of this land and end the misgivings about its people who loved peace.
Adviser to the Federal Ombudsman and a former chief secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi, travelled from Islamabad to view the paintings on the concluding day of the exhibition.
Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi, who himself lived the early part of his life in Bazaar-e-Kalan neighbourhood in Peshawar, said it was highly encouraging to note that at a time when Peshawar and other parts of the province were going through hard times due to a wave of terror, there were people and institutions who were making efforts to promote art and culture and thus give a ray of hope to the people.
“I strongly believe that at a time when cultural landscapes of Peshawar are being threatened with commercialism, there is a greater need to preserve the rare architectural heritage of the 2500-year old city and its values which has the distinction of being the oldest living city of the South Asia,” said Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi, son of known educationalist Ahmad Nawaz Saleem Qureshi who spent his life in serving the education sector and also authored two books “A dynamic view of education” and “Dayar-e-Dil”.
Professor Mohammad Siddique Zakki, a former teacher at the Edwardes College Peshawar, said Dr Ghulam Shabbier had portrayed though his brushwork the cultural life of Peshawar that touched the heart. “A look at these paintings gives me a peace of mind. It reminds of the calm that Peshawar once had when the life was not as mechanical as it is today. I still own a house in the interior part of the city and I have retained it just because it is part of the city culture,” said Professor Zakki as his eyes welled up while looking at some of the paintings that showed the interior views of the traditional houses in Peshawar.
Jehanzeb Malik, a seasoned art teacher, said painting in watercolour is more difficult than oil colour. “Shabbier has done a good job by preserving the cultural life through his brushwork,” he said of the artist who is a pulmonologist by profession and served at the Khyber Teaching Hospital.
Assistant Professor Dr Tazeen Gul of the Jinnah College for Women, University of Peshawar, who was at the exhibition along with her children, said such cultural activities must be promoted if we wanted to keep our young generation away from the negative pursuits. She proposed that such events should be well publicised in advance.
Feeling elated at the response to the exhibition and recognition of his work, Dr Ghulam Shabbier said he would extend the scope of his work to portray other aspects of Peshawar as well. He suggested that the Gor Gathri Cultural Complex in the Walled City should have a portion to display the artwork of the local artists as you cannot progress by breaking with your glorious past.
The exhibition was formally opened on Friday by an educationist Khwaja Mohammad Waseem at a ceremony, which was attended by the art lovers from different sections of the society, a good number of university and school students and teachers.
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