Drive by the wall opposite the centre point, you see monuments painted next to calls for peace, depictions of culture and a call for togetherness.
Amidst this painting of hope is a painting of an old woman in despondency. She is asking - but she is without hope.
This painting, depicting what painter Yasir, a charted accountant, calls his true reflection of the society around him, is not allowed by the City District Government Lahore (CDGL), a partner to the project.
Organiser Mudassir tells me, the CDGL strictly forbade them from projecting negative themes – even if they show reality. So they chose six ‘positive’ themes: education, peace, culture, hope, monuments and truck art.
I wondered if these paintings and painters could hide the truth of what the makers felt about the society around them – and asked leave of Mudassir to walk around, look at the paintings and talk to the painters.
‘Balochistan is barren, Pakhtunkhwa repressive’:
A couple of painting to the right of the despairing old lady, three girls and a boy from SIMS make a painting. It shows their imagination of the cultures of Pakistan. Baluchistan on top, Punjab at the right, Sindh on the left, Pakthunkhwa on the bottom.
In their imagery a number of contradictions are apparent. The man who represents Baluchistan has a huge turban, a jet black beard and sharp pointed eyes. He looks more like Muhammad bin Qasim than a Baloch. The only amongst the four whose presence strikes fears.
Below is the image of the culture of Pakthunkhwa. There is a woman in a full veil, a shoe and a man. That is their connection. I ask one of the girls, Hira, i believe, why she chose these images and she responds, "This is the culture of Pakhtunkhwa. It is repressive." And I ask back, "But there is an alternate tradition. Bacha Khan and the Red Shirts. What you depicted is an anomaly."
"No, but this is what it is now," she responds. I wish to ask, "So why did you not represent the present culture of the other three provinces?" but i let the question fade. She is being true to the Pakthunkhwa she has seen represented to her. There is no positive image for her to show.
And what of the Baloch. He stands alone with a sarangi and a date tree. "What is Baluchistan?", I ask. "This that we depicted," she says. "It is barren land." "But what about Sui Gas? Why not make a gas pipeline?" "Yes, we could have," she says.
Her comments reflect a sincere ignorance - only that the time for sincere ignorance appears to have run out.
Of traditional dress and traditional thought:
The next painting I looked at was one that included a sculpture of a village woman with a matka on her head and a lucious flow to her clothes; green and purple In discussion with the students of Naksh College of Arts in the Bhatti Gate; Muhammad Adnan, Rizwan, Ahid Kamran and Tehreem.
The conversation with Tehreem became interesting when I asked, "What did you depict?" "Our culture. A village woman. She is beautiful," she replies. I turn to the boys and ask, "So how many of you would accept such a woman in your college?"
They break into a laugh and say, "She would be unique." I respond, "Yes, she would. You would all laugh." To this, Tehreem responds, "Dress does not matter. It is thought that matters. The thought needs to be modern. The dress can be traditional."
Thus, by positing the dichotomy between dress and thought, Tehreen unintentionally concedes the death of the thought associated with the dress she wishes to preserve.
The unrealised irony is in the representation of culture chosen by these children who exhibit only traces of that culture - their creative output is a nostalgia, a longing and sense of loss. But it is not a path for the future.
Of doves that depict vultures:
But amongst these paintings there are articulations of a path for the future. Peace is the symbol that illuminates them. The dove makes an appearance in every second wall painting.
The attempt by the State to conceal truth is subverted by the chosen symbols: the painting of the peace of the dove means rejection of the violence of present.
The peaceful dove conceals the vultures that marr the present. The symbol that hides is itself the symbol that reveals. The dove only attempts to neutralise them.
Amongst these paintings is another by students of SIMS. Imran, Usman and two more friends combine the dove, the symbol of peace, the provinces of Pakistan a top the flag of Pakistan. Their message is unity and togetherness. To the right of these, is John Lennon's famous line, "Give peace a chance," and to the right of this a local slogan, "The peace sixer (Aman ka chakha)."
Imran explains the idea behind his paintings to me, "The constitution is that which is supposed to unite us. But the whole of Balochistan is against us. It is only by giving them rights that we can bring them together." "How do we give them rights?" I ask.
"The system must change. We have tried this system and its many permutations for 63 years. It is fatally flawed," he says. "So what forms the basic of this new system that will produce the hope of your image?," I ask.
"Communism will not be accepted by the masses. It must be through Islam," he says. "So you've read up on Marxism then I presume?," I query. He turns to show me the hammer and sickle painted onto the back of his shirt and smiles.
I smile inside at the contradiction between his shirt and his speech. But I like his hope. I like that he found his symbol. And I like that he does not stereotype the provinces. He even adds Gilgit and Kashmir to make Pakistan six provinces.
The culture contradiction:
I look at another painting.
There is a woman dressed in village attire opening her hands to the words, "Our culture has been curtained."
Punjab University students Aiza and Zainab make the painting. I go up to talk to them. "What is the idea behind the painting?," I ask. Aiza speaks, "Our culture is in curtains. That is what we are trying to depict. Jeans are acceptable; but, a traditional attire is not."
Zainab chips in, "We want to depict the richness of our culture which has been given up by adopting Western culture." The thing I find strange is that they tell me the theme they chose was truck art.
In summary, they tell me that the West killed the culture they hold dear. This idea continues to replicated by other painters choosing the 'Culture' theme.
What is unknown to them is the truth: it is not the West that killed culture, it is the modern state.
Most are trapped within what Partha Chaterjee (an academic of note in India) calls the postcolonial complex: a class of individuals caught between modernity and tradition.
They depict a culture which is not a part of them. They celebrate the traces of it that they are able to experience. What is worth preserving is worth projecting - but not worth adopting. And I do not blame them for such. I only suggest that there can be better use of these symbols - uses more relevant to a future politics.
Selves concealed or revealed?
And, yes, I never asked the real question I wanted to ask: where, in their paintings, were the painters themselves?
Everyone was depicting something without doing what Sadequian was a master in, depicting himself within a painting.
A painting may conceal a painter's self - or reveal it. The painters showed no such awareness. However, selves were revealed in these paintings - but by examining the process of hiding.
It is an aside that I admit I am filled with hope as I walk amidst these youngsters who paint. And retain hope that if they keep acting upon the faith they possess they shall surely grow into political and cultural maturity.
At the moment, they are beset by the contradictions of their times and trying to answer back. I am similar. I reflect on them - and critique them - only because as their brush paints an image onto the wall, they begin to communicate to a public.
Communication is a powerful act. It is an act that must be reflective.
These youngsters communicate themselves to the public. I respond as one of the public. One who attempts to absorb their ideas and answers back.
— The article was printed in the Lahore section in Pakistan Today on March 29, 2011.
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