LAHORE: The second day of 10th Lahore Literary Festival pulled in a huge number of literature lovers who came to attend different sessions, featuring speakers from within the country and abroad.

The Alhamra Art Centre was tastefully bedecked with marigolds, colourful buntings, big colorful flexes and a good number of visitors enjoying the overall atmosphere of the festival. There were many bookstalls at the festivals of leading booksellers offering a discount on books from 15pc to 30pc. There was also a sumptuous food court as well. Most of the book stalls were given place in the foyer area of Hall I, some had the stalls outside in the open.

One of the sessions, ‘Barbed Wire, Art, Violence and the State’ was on the violent history of Karachi and the way Karachiites endured some 40 years of violence through different periods was the topic of the session, moderated by artist and art educator Nazish Attaulalh.

The panelists were artist Adeela Suleman, novelist Omar Shahid Hamid and Faisal Siddiqui.

Ms Attaullah shared her early life memories of Karachi when it was a peaceful city and one could go to the seaside even at 2am; however, over the decades there was a great deterioration due to violence and stuff, she added.

Adeela Suleman, a thorough Karachiite, recalled the days of violence in Karachi, saying her house was located in Nazimabad No 1 and there used to be brawls in the streets and whenever there was teargas shelling her mother used to give her wet towels to protect the eyes.

“I am a generation from the Zia regime and was brought up in those days. I studied at the Karachi University where I got the idea what the Karachi youth was going through.

There used to be several deaths in Karachi every day, 17 people die per day on average.”

Adeela talked about Naqeebullah’s death in 2018 and how she worked closely with his father and made artworks to highlight his death. She showed her artworks during all this mayhem of violence in the city.

Hamid said the history of violence in Karachi was their personal history. “The Karachiites always make a bond wherever they go in the world when it comes to the troubles and violence they faced in Karachi in all these 40 or so years.”

Omar Shahid Hamid said Karachi was shaded into good and evil.

“Karachi kills you but you can’t stop loving Karachi as well; however, one constantly keeps hoping for the positive things to happen,” he added.

Faisal Siddiqui termed Karachi a monster city as living in Karachi was extremely difficult. He said if he had a choice he would have shifted to some other city, maybe Lahore, but his mother was buried in Karachi and he felt it was his duty to stay there and fight against the odds. He said when the Baldia Factory incident took place, no union or parties protested; however, artists came up with the biggest public art exhibition.

PHOTOGRAPHY: In another session, ‘Snatches of Life’ held in partnership with the Embassy of France moderated by Umer Riaz and featuring panelists, Indian legendary photographer Raghu Rai, Ferrante Ferranti, Tapu Javeri and Maria Waseem.

The panelists explored the technical as well as intuitive aspects of photography, how a good photographer would develop one skill and how photography was a complete language of art.

Tapu Javeri said a photographer surrounded by an amazing environment and perfect light could make a perfect picture. While taking photographs “I myself give me assignments as to how to come up with the best results”.

Maria Waseem, an architect and photographer from Lahore with great interest in capturing heritage sites, was of the view that before capturing a monument, she felt it was important to consider the site itself, its historical significance and the people who used to live there centuries ago and their chemistry with the site.

Raghu Rai said a good photograph needed intuitive signs from nature about it. “It’s the divinity that brings out a classy photograph.”

He said he had no plans to become a photographer but since his elder brother was a good photographer, he got inspired by him.

To Mr Rai, the moment mattered more compared to the light effect and intuitive moments led to a perfect photograph.

Ferranti, the French photographer and architect, said a photographer should have a ready eye and mind as anything could happen anytime and one should be ready for the camera click.

MADRID MUSEUM: The session on visual art, titled ‘Masterpieces of the Prado Collection’, was extremely informative and interesting with the speaker, Alejandro Vergara, senior curator of Flemish and Northern European Paintings, Museo Nacional Del Prado, Madrid. The session was held in partnership with the Embassy of Spain. Mr Vergara threw light on the Prado collection through slides and photographs. He also threw light on different art collectors of 15th, 16th and 17thcentury. He said the Prado Museum dated back to 200 years. The unique nature of the institution was due to Spain’s monarchs. “Prado is a museum of painters. It houses the collections of Bosch, Titian, El Greco, Rubens, Velázquez and Goya.”

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2023