Pakistan is a land of rich cultural heritage nurtured on its soil since time immemorial. The cherished values of peace, progress and prosperity added with goodwill, tolerance, co-existence and humanism have been the indomitable forte of our cultural ambience.
It is a great pride and pleasure of Pakistan that it has been the abode of the world's most ancient and primitive civilisations including Moenjodaro, Mehar Garh, Harrapa and Ghandara.
The reminiscents from the archaeological cites are the evidence of the creative and innovative persuits and the most peaceful traits of its people. The creative genius of the land always used to adhere with the glorious traditions and rituals of its people and translated this heritage into different genres of arts and crafts through the creative endeavours in the long span of history.
The fossils found in the Soan valley, the rock inscriptions available on the historical Silk Route, the statues dug out from central Punjab and southern Sindh and Balochistan are the gracious evidence of creative excellence of Pakistani artists.
With the emergence of new state of Pakistan the artists and artisan of the land accelerated their creativity with yet more zeal and rejuvenation to cater to the creative and aesthetic thirst of their countrymen. With the passage of half a century plus time, our artists and artisans have won the eminence of adding substantial art treasures to the great repository of our cultural heritage.
The dawn of year 2007 witnessed yet more extension in the historical traits and traditions in the area of artistic creativity in Pakistan and specially the capital city Islamabad located at a meaningful juncture of Margalla hills flanked with the ruins of Bhuddist Julian University, Taxila on one side and the promising social, educational and cultural infrastructure on the other side. During early 70's Islamabad was taken as a culturally barren land without any roots of its own. Over a quarter of a century the art scene has totally changed. Lahore enjoys a distinction of adverbial liveliness "there are eight festivals in seven days of a week". But now it seems to be true to Islamabad too. The past week witnessed a lot of cultural activity in the twin cities. The visual arts stood at the forefront.
The construction work at the new state- of -the -art cultural complex of the National Art Gallery of Pakistan National Council of the Arts in front of the Parliament is near completion. The mega project with 14 galleries, display areas, library, children section, restoration lab, restaurant, 600- capacity auditorium alongwith an open air theatre fully equipped with sophisticated and modern gadgets required for any performance of international standard. Naeem Tahir, chief executive and director general of PNCA, said " the gallery would prove to be a repository of national cultural heritage and a nucleus of artistic creativity".
With the winding up of Contemporary Art Gallery of art stalwart Zubeda Agha, it was the National Art Gallery of PNCA which strived hard to create congenial atmosphere for the promotion, projection and perpetuation of the arts, especially the visual arts. With the passage of time now there are at least a dozen art galleries either in the public or private sector in the twin cities of the capital. Nomad is one known as dynamic and vibrant in multi dimensional activities under Nagin Hayat. It celebrated the new year with a remarkable exhibition of paintings by over a dozen artists hailing from Karachi, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. It includes Mehar Aforz, Nahid Raza, Anjum Ayub, M.A Bukhari, Moazzam Ali, Sarfaraz Musawwar and others.
The craftsmanship of artists in using the space, creating harmony amongst colors, and portraying the aesthetic was truly impressive.
Above all, a great change of transformation - from interior decoration to the burning social cultural issues - was witnessed through most of the canvases displayed there. The works by Nahid Raza, Mehar Afroz and Anjum Ayub indeed deserve praise for highlighting feminine suppression and its redressal. The woman in red, stressed with agony and pain, bears a bird in hand which reflects her inner desire to have a flight towards horizon of peace and happiness. Mehar Afroz, as usual, painted inner complexities of human feelings with special reference to spiritual intuitions. Anjum Ayub's study of human psyche and its relevance to socio- cultural milieu stands distinctive.
The Punjab Art Council, once was considered as the kitchen art council for its limited purview of activities relating to merely female interests of domestic significance, now has completely transformed it to a vibrant and progressive hub of art and cultural activities. Located at the crossroad of the twin cities it has been catering to the creative and artistic thirst of local artists and art lovers with holding exhibitions of all genres of arts and crafts. Under the dedicated endeavour of its director Naheed Manzur the PAC has successfully launched a composite package of imparting education in over 28 disciplines including art and craft, media production, ceramics, fiber glass, interior decoration, baking of indigenous and continental dishes, flower arrangements, calligraphy, sculpture, harmonium, key board, textile and fashion designing etc. The PAC has also built a spacious auditorium with 630 seats which is about to complete. With it the city would have a place of socio- cultural activities which otherwise have come to a standstill since the closure of the historical Liaquat Hall as it has been handed over to the National College of Arts, Rawalpindi campus.