Given opportunity, children can be as creative as any other adult or a grown-up person. An exhibition of Pakistan's culture and heritage which opens today, April 17, at Sadequain Art Gallery, Frere Hall, is an acknowledgement of this fact.
Children in the age group 6-13 years have used waste cardboard and packing material to create images of different objects of interest. In some of the articles, hard cardboard is used and in some, to create variety collage has been used as the medium of expression.
Bullock cart of the Moen-jo-dero era, prepared with the waste packaging material by the young artists, with typical wooden wheals, which can still be seen in use in upper Sindh by the farmers who cannot afford to purchase a transportation vehicle, with all the traditional colours, shows the depth of observation these young children have shown.
The dominant colours in Sindh such as shocking red, yellow and green have occupied central place is almost all the work on display. This has given a special touch of the painting culture that had been the hallmark of the Moen-jo-daro civilization. For example, terra cotta soldiers, women carrying pitchers and other household utensils and kitchenware that are kept in the Moen-jo-dero museum, show that the people of that age and time had an obsession for red, yellow and blue respectively. The young artists have represented the past in a very imaginative manner. Some of the other articles which are new such as Abdali missile, auto rickshaw, Khyber Pass, bicycles and tricycles, Shah Faisal Mosque, trucks and many other things which children could find fascinating, are also on display.
The striking feature of the exhibition is that the participants have mixed old and new in such a manner that visitors would feel a smoth transition from the past to the present as far as cultural heritage of Sindh is concerned. Nothing has been overdone. There is nothing that would give a feeling of excessive use of colour as well. It seems as if a conscious effort has been made to give a sense of relationship between all that is on display. But if seen in isolation each object has its own place and subtlety of expression.
Manufacturers of Colgate had invited entries from different schools to participate in Colgate Picture Pakistan Contest in January last. Fariha Razak Haroon, member of the Sindh Assembly, judged the entries received.
First prize-Rs 50,000, was awarded to Abacus School from Lahore, second prize-Rs 20,000, was awarded to The Programmer School, Karachi, and third prize, Rs 10,000, was given to St. Micheal's Convent School, Karachi.
Zulfiqar Lakhani, managing director, Colgate, and Fariha Razak Haroon have said that the contest has brought to light hidden talent that schools have.
The exhibition will remain open on Sunday (tomorrow).
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