The graduating class of the Punjab University Fine Arts Department displayed their thesis in Graphics in the department’s auditorium.
The work was presented on several topics and in three or four styles, where established brand names were used to present new ideas. For instance, Aisha Chughtai’s work was done keeping in mind the objectives of Health Oriented Preventive Education (HOPE), an NGO, which works for children’s education. The posters had photographs of a child hanging with strings like a puppet with a slogan underneath “Am I your puppet?”
Similarly, other questions were raised in the same format, with photos of the child chained, bearing the title ‘Am I your slave’, and in other positions showing that the child was to only obey blindly what his parents said. The poster showed that the parents needed to know themselves in order to teach their children. The key line was “What you do not know can hurt your child.”
Syeda Habiba Gillani, who made a presentation for the Lahore Zoo, said that she had focused on the fact the zoo was one of the initial learning place for the children, thus the Lahore Zoo could do with a better marketing campaign.
“I made posters with sketches and wrote interesting facts on them about each animal. I also made a comprehensive map of the Lahore Zoo,” she said. And perhaps this was the reason that made Gillani’s presentation attractive.
The sketches were done in black and grey on a gold-dust background, giving a typically classic wildlife image to each picture, as if it had been drawn back in the 1900s. The animals were drawn in the grandest and most regal stature. The monkey was sedate and intelligent looking, the lion was majestic and beautiful and even the crocodile was not represented as a monster, instead it was an awe-inspiring creature from the wild.
The presentation had four child characters, which were expected to guide the visitors through the zoo. At par with this was the one done for WWF by Faria Wasi. Excellently drawn and designed, Faria had left some extra negative space on each of her posters, choosing a simple white background, and a photograph, graphically enhanced upon it. The choice of negative space left her posters to be leaving a deep mark on the viewer, following the rule of ‘less is more’.
Other presentations included one on Nescafe, which was funny as well as pop oriented. Meanwhile, a presentation for Riverstone had similar pop oriented t-shirts and designs.
There were three categories, one on technology, which had students designing tech-based posters etc, the other of products and brands, which included presentations like Nescafe, Nishat Linen, Riverstone, and others, and the third one was on social issues, including human rights, terrorism, media and its social responsibility and wildlife and its conservation.
The students had worked under Professor Amjad Parvez for their Masters in Fine Arts.
Other participants included Namra Tariq, Tanzila Kazmi, Uzma Gohar, Mehreen Afzal, Usman Jamshed, Hina Sajjad, Gohar Hameed, and Fajar Jahangir.
