A unique wooden art exhibition by international artisan Muhammad Saleem Mughal kicked off here at the Rawalpindi Arts Council on Tuesday.
Senator Najma Hameed, MNA Tahira Aurangzeb, Naheed Manzoor and Resident Director Waqar Ahmed inaugurated the exhibition.
The 51-year-old Wazirabad-origin artisan spent 38 years in promoting this unique art. Muhammad Saleem Mughal is a master craftsman in wooden art. He lived in the neighborhood of Atta-ul-Haq Qasmi and Munnu Bhai. All the three got education from the same school. He has God-gifted wooden art which is totally different from that of his ancestors.
Saleem told Pakistan Today that he started to learn brass work, but later switched to wooden art in 1973. He made first model of a house in 1974, sold it in Rs 25 and spent Rs 6 for his admission to 6th class. He often uses teak wood for crafting most profusely intricate carved items. Saleem uses walnut wood, cedar and shisham for creating exquisitely models and decorative items.
A single item takes two months to two years for completion. He has prepared lots of masterpieces, including Khana Kaaba, Masjid-e-Nabvi, plazas and houses. He has also made statues of famous personalities of the world, including Shaheed Benazir Bhutto.
He is in fact a self-made engineer by his inner qualities and has sent his art pieces to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Spain, Norway, America, India, France, Canada, Greece, Japan, China and Korea. Saleem is satisfied with his profession and desires to shift it to his next generation.
He is imparting training to several students, thus ensuring continuity of his art to the younger generations. In this regard, Saleem Mughal runs an Art Centre in Gujranwala and has trained more than two hundred students all over Pakistan and has a museum of having 100 unique wooden art pieces. The special is that he is scribing the holy Quran with cedar wood, which is the first-ever attempt in the world. He has set a target of 17 years because one paara of the Quran takes two and a half years to complete. Saleem Mughal has not yet received any national or international award from any government, but he thinks that God’s blessing is more important than any award. Apart from wooden art, he is a good singer.
A large number of visitors, including families, youth and general public from the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, attended the exhibition.
