ISLAMABAD: A one-day painting exhibition titled Uks-i-Aman was organised by PeaceFlixin collaboration with Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) and the Women Journalists’ Association of Pakistan here on Thursday.

The activity was a peace building activity organised by Asma Bashir Kundi as a member of the PeaceFlix initiative by Global Neighbourhood for Media Innovation (GNMI). The programme was designed to promote peace, inclusivity and social cohesion in localcapacities.

The programme’s core objective was to create discoursearound women’s role in peace building in Pakistan and the world. In the first phase of this project, female journalists nationwide, who covered war, conflict and violence in the field of journalism, shared stories they covered with art students.

Art students were selected from various art institutes including Fatima Jinnah Women University, Quaid-i-Azam University and IMCG Korang Town. The students then painted shared stories on canvas.

As many as 17 students participated in this initiative and produced 16 paintings and a 3-D project to represent the stories highlighting the need and ways for peace in society.

Director general of PNCA Ayoub Jamali said that the basis of peace was trust. The foundation of trust was transparency, and the base of transparency was shared inner experience. Art was a powerful tool for expressing inner expertise to build trust and peace.

He added that the PNCA had supported promotion of exhibits and the best modern and contemporary art on a national and international scale.

The PNCA was set up to spearhead the development of skills in Pakistan. The council aims to build an environment conducive to flourishing of the arts, where the arts were accessible to everyone and artists and art groups have the commitment,support and resources to excel at home and on the world stage.

A painting by Roshan Bakht, with the title, Carving Fate, was getting visitors’ attention. This painting represented a story of a street boy named Noman Khan from Peshawar, who worked as a servant while he joined a free art academy and successfully created his art career.

Khan changed his fate through hard work and exhibited his paintings at the age of 16. This story was done by journalist from Peshawar, Fatima Nazish. Bakht said: “Through this opportunity, I learned a lot about painting techniques. As an artist, I believe it becomes my primary duty to promote peace through my artwork. The storyline was fascinating as it depicts the harsh reality of struggling young artists. Still, it ends on a beautiful, successful path.”

Sadaf Hammad, assistant professor at Islamabad Model College for Girls Korang Town, said: “This exhibition is the first of its kind. The idea is unique, and it engages students to create interesting artwork based on case studies provided by women journalists. The stories are the outcome of their commitment to their field. The diverse experience shared by different journalists seems amazing as artwork.”

Asma Bashir Kundi, organiser of the workshop on behalf of PeaceFlix, thanked the participantsand said that all the students worked with passion, and the outcome was great.

The founder of Women Journalists Association of Pakistan, Fouzia Kulsoom Rana, said that the idea by peace-builder Asma Kundi to present the stories of women journalists on canvas with vibrant colours was unique, and it was not an easy goal to implement.

The Women Journalists Association of Pakistan, expressed gratitude to PNCA and the continuous support of Team GNMI to make the activity possible.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2023