ISLAMABAD: The first-ever arts and design residency programme brought together four Pakistani artists and one Iranian-Swedish artist in Taxila, the cradle of Gandhara Civilisation, to immerse in the rich history and display their creativity.

The five-day International Gandhara Artist Residency programme titled ‘Old Path White Clouds’ inspired by a classic Vietnamese novel, organised by the University of Wah in collaboration with the Gandhara Resource Centre (GRC) concluded on Sept 16.

Zarin Gul and Sidra Ashraf, the faculty members of Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi and Zain Shakeel from Foundation University, and Dr Behzad Khosravi Noori, Iranian-Swedish artist, currently affiliated with Habib University, Karachi, participated in the residency programme.

On the first day, the artists had a guided tour of the city of Sirkap and organised reading sessions on-site for enhanced learning and understanding of heritage. On the second day, they visited Mohra Marudu monastery.

On the third day, curator Anjum Dara gave a talk at Taxila Museum on the history and philosophy of Buddhism.

The group also visited artisanal workshops to explore the materials, techniques and designs of the crafts of Taxila.

On the fourth day, R.M. Naeem, an eminent artist and recipient of the Pride of Performance Presidential award, gave a talk.

Pakistan’s foremost printmaker Zaira Zaka shared her experiences of an artist residency in Pakistan and elsewhere in the world.

Dr Nadeem Omar Tarar, Gandhara Chair, University of Wah reiterated the need to turn Taxila into a flash point for Buddhist heritage tourism.

Sidra Ashraf is a visual artist and educationist.

She uses natural elements to stylize the patterns for compositions of her miniature and illuminated pieces. She experiments with different mediums including printmaking, pointillism, ornamentation, animation and illumination.

Zain Shakeel is an animator, designer and educationist. The content he creates through his animations has a cultural component to it. He has great command of both software as well as conceptual part.

Zarin Gul is a visual artist and educationist. She has worked across many mediums which include painting, printmaking, photography, video art, installations and animations. She is a pioneering female video artist in Pakistan. Her themes revolve around art, culture, gender and technology.

Izzah Khan, the executive director of the C2D, highlighted the contributions of GRC and thanked the participating artists and the public for their time and commitment to the promotion of Gandhara art.

Dr Behzard Khosravi Nooni is an artist, writer, educator, necromancer and a researcher.

He practices multiple mediums including films, installations as well as archival studies based on research.

Dr Noori uses personal experience as a springboard to establish, through artistic research, a hypothetical relationship between personal memories and significant world events between micro and macro histories.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2022