Azadi

As the celebrations of the Independence Day were in full swing, Art Citi geared up to celebrate the Independence Day by holding an art exhibition to commemorate the journey of those who have relinquished everything to fulfill the dream of this beloved country, Pakistan.

The gallery had set a series of art works by a talented artist Rida Kazmi, a graduate from Center of Excellence in Art and Design at Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro. Participated in various national and international exhibitions, Kazmi brought a set of acrylic paintings to cherish as well as recall the memories of Independence.

Kazmi had recollected the moments of partition all together in her work in an exceptionally remarkable way. She used the images of Quaid-e-Azam, Ms Fatima Jinnah and Allama Iqbal in her work to laud the innumerable services of these towering personalities; without who, the nation would have not been able to live the dream of an independent state.

The wise choice of lighter and darker shades, slightly mixed with other colors, was observed in her work. The canvas was not dominated with monotonous hues, but reds, blues and yellows could be seen in different paintings adding volume to them. The characters and figures were chosen to be painted in lighter colors, but different shades of green, which also covers the major area of the flag, were intentionally used to paint the background as well as the foreground to keep the essence of Independence.

The red color in her displays depicted the massacres and the bloodshed which took place after the partition was announced. Kazmi also sketched out the picture of the ‘Train’ crowded with refugees, which was called the ‘Blood Train’ at the time of partition that carried refugees between the two nations, corpses of the people who had been killed by mobs en route.

Some of the lines from the motivational and highly regarded poetry of Allama Iqbal, which had inspired millions of Muslims to fight for their right of a separate homeland, were also observed written in some of her displays to recall the pivotal role that Iqbal’s poetry played in overcoming intellectual impediments during Pakistan Movement.

Kazmi beautifully weaved the narrative of migration from one land to another through her careful brush strokes and chosen hues to draw the exact scenario of partition. There were females shown carrying luggage on their heads, children in their arms and young carrying older on their shoulders took the audience back to the times when people walked bare feet to miles to fulfill the dream of a peaceful home.

Where she portrayed youth’s contribution and significant role using the loud colors, at the same time she nicely outlined the faces of children, old ones and women coming out of the busy background of the canvas, whose tired eyes are telling the million stories of pain, sorrow, hope, fear and terrors of partition.

She had consciously kept some of the canvases busy with figures, faces, news prints and poetries to direct towards the important factors involved in renouncing despondency among the nation. While having an exchange of dialogues with kazmi, she shared her inspiration behind this array of work:

“Being a young artist of this age, I do not know how the spirit of independence would have been when our forefathers actually got independence after losing millions of lives. I have been listening to many stories of partition from my grandparents who were a part of it somehow. On the Independence Day, I got an opportunity to help people visualize the story of Independence through my work keeping the originality alive and reviving the essence of independence”. Kazmi explicated.

The period of partition of India and Pakistan is the bloodiest chapter of human history. We might have forgotten the true spirit of the day and the sacrifices made by millions of people who zealously contributed, from homes to lives, everything to turn a single ray of light into a whole bright morning.

The exhibition ‘Azadi’ did not only evoke the memories of Independence, but also intrigued and refreshed the enthusiasm among everyone to value our precious motherland which wasn’t gifted to us, but our forefathers had fought for years to separate Pakistan as a Muslim independent country and poured blood and sweat to strengthen the roots of Pakistan.