In a bazaar where people comes to buy edibles and other daily use items, Azhar Qureshi, an artist by profession, is the person who has established a small art gallery and also set up a academy for students to promote the art and peace in the society. The weekly bazaar at Peshawar Morr H/9 is the major market of the federal capital where the people from across the city come to buy vegetables, fruits and other things on nominal rates. But the most interesting place in the busy bazaar is the art gallery of Azhar where one can see the famous places of Pakistan, particularly of the capital city summarised in the beautiful paintings. A colourful painting made by using oil paints, water paint, fabric paint and glass paint have covered all the walls of his small stall. Azhar has also exhibited his paintings for interested customers.
Holding pallet, the art students, including girls and children, make different type of paintings in the gallery, which conveys a message of peaceful Pakistan where women can also work according to their own will even in an open bazaar. Talking about his work, Azhar said he was an expert in landscape painting. He said in the early 20th century, painters continued to embrace the landscape. “As photography gained acceptance as an art form, artists used the medium to create interpretations of the land through pictorial effects and, later, through formal compositions of close-up, cropped views of the landscape.
“Today, the landscape continues to be a subject artists turn to when contemplating the ways we relate to the places where we live and the impact we as humans have on the land” he said. In the distinct academy, there are about ten students; most of them are teenage girls. “I am a student of Iqra University and got admission in the academy to learn more about arts,” said Shazia Aslam, adding that she they could do practical work in the academy.
“We feel at home in the academy because a large number of visitors appreciate our work, which is a great honour for us,” said Fahad Alam another student.
Azhar said he along with his students also went on outdoor visits for the better experience. “We visit historical and scenic sites of the capital including Saidpur village, Faisal Mosque and Damn-e-Koh to make paintings of these sites,” he added. The gloomy aspect of the story is that Azhar has somehow depressed about his profession. “After struggling for a long time in my life, I came to know that this profession is no more valued in the society,” he said. He mourned that the paintings were instrumental in adding beauty to the homes and offices but no one was ready in the country to promote those who were involved in the creative work. “These are the artists and the society should endorse their value of work,” he said.
Azhar regretted that very few artists could succeed in the profession but they too had ignored their other colleagues who were among the deprived ones because of lack of resources. “The painter who can invest more money can showcase his or her pictures at art galleries but the artists, like me, are compelled to display their work at a bazaar,” he said. He said many renowned artists had visited his stall but the disappointed thing was that they also criticised him for starting art work at the weekly bazaar, because they did not consider it as the suitable place for the work.
Several visitors, while talking to Pakistan Today, said the stall was really an attractive place. “I feel so bad for this man. I don’t understand why people are giving art the importance it deserves. It is really annoying. People like him deserve to be noticed and his paintings should be auctioning for millions rather than being placed in a bazaar,” said a student of arts. However, such steps by common masses, no doubt, can play a crucial role in portraying a peaceful picture of the country at the time when terrorism has spread its tentacles across the society and damaged the image of Pakistan in the world. No doubt, artists should be given importance in the society.
