KARACHI: Distinguished architect Naeem Pasha gave an insightful presentation on Thursday evening at the Mohatta Palace Museum followed by an engaging discussion with DawnMedia CEO Hameed Haroon and journalist Kathy Gannon on the occasion of the launch of the architect’s book on the National Art Gallery Islamabad at an event titled The Making of a Masterpiece — The National Art Gallery Islamabad.

The event began with Mr Haroon’s brief introduction to Mr Pasha and Ms Gannon (who is Mr Pasha’s wife) and a video was shown on the making of the gallery.

In the visuals, the architect can be seen and heard saying, “I have never designed a building from outside in; I have always designed a building inside-out because it’s only viewed from outside by a few people but it is experience by a whole lot of people from the inside.”

Book on construction of National Art Gallery launched

Then Mr Pasha addressed the audience. He said over the years Lahore was thought of as the centre of art and culture, but since the 1980s Karachi has come up far ahead of Lahore. He praised the city’s institutions and the efforts in terms of developing the arts. The Mohatta Palace is one of those institutions. “Karachi has to afford a lot more to the development of the structure that I have created and to house more art and more substantive collections in the National Gallery. We have about 700 artworks in the gallery.”

He said since Ziaul Haq’s martial law, art has flourished in the country because there was a strong reaction during that period. He claimed that’s where we now differ in our expression from India. Indians are still looking at the west but Pakistan art — with the likes of Zahoorul Akhlaq, Shazia Sikandar, Rashid Rana and Imran Qureshi — has blossomed as something totally different from what it used to be.

Mr Pasha went down memory lane to tell the receptive attendees about the genesis of the National Art Gallery. He said in the 1980s, the first competition was arranged [for the gallery] by the Pakistan National Council of the Arts in which five architects, including his firm, were invited. One of them won. For 10 years nothing happened. In Benazir Bhutto’s first government, Khwaja Shahid Husain, who had escaped martial law, became secretary culture. He looked at the firm’s design and found it was not responsive to the art of viewing. Therefore, another competition was held and the same five firms were asked to submit. The last time’s winner didn’t participate and the rest four were brought in. Mr Pasha’s firm became successful.

He said the real trouble started afterwards. Benazir’s government was thrown out and Nawaz Sharif came in who wanted to have his own secretariat. He took over the site [for the gallery]. “When it came to the site, my assertion was that a building of national importance must be close to the seat of governance.”

The architect said subsequently Nawaz Sharif went and Benazir came back. Designs were shown to Khwaja Shahid Husain. Mr Husain asked about the site and finally settled on one [where now the gallery is situated].

He said in 1996 the foundation for the building was laid and the project started slowly. When Gen Musharraf was attacked twice going from the presidency to GHQ he started flying by helicopter to his office. That’s when he noticed the structure. He inquired about it. Upon knowing what it was, it was decided to demolish the structure. “I went to the new secretary culture and asked him to give me two to three days to make a presentation for the president. I came back to my office. We had a small model. I called a friend of mine, a design student for NCA my class fellow, now chief cameraman for PTV. We took the model and my friend filmed making it look as if it was being watched from the helicopter. I also took photos of the grey structure and juxtaposed it with the model from the same angle. Gen Musharraf after looking it said it fitted into his idea of ‘enlightened moderation’. He asked me how soon I could finish the project. To get the money, we answered in a year. We started working on the project from 2005 onwards. In 2007, we finished the building and it was inaugurated. This book tells that story of 27 years.”

The architect’s presentation was followed by a conversation between Mr Haroon, Mr Pasha and Ms Gannon. Mr Haroon put a question to Ms Gannon about the period when she was reporting on Afghanistan. What was special about Pasha’s struggle at the time? She said what struck her was that in those decades Pasha never gave up. “Looking at the book now I’m in awe. I think it’s a remarkable book. The politics of it [when he was working on the project] was frustrating for Pasha. He had to fight each government to make them understand how important was a national gallery to Pakistan.”

Mr Haroon also mentioned the time when Ms Gannon sustained a serious injury in Afghanistan because of which she was taken to Canada, and asked how Mr Pasha dealt with it. She replied it was hard. “Pasha was with me in Germany and then we actually went to the US. He was with me every step, throughout and it took a toll, it was hard. It was 2014. The opening was in 2007. At that point the gallery was a reality.”

In response to another question, Mr Pasha said the total number of art galleries in the complex is 14, out of which five honour galleries, for example, honouring Sadequain or Chughtai.

Mr Pasha said Karachi could contribute and enhance the collection in the National Art Gallery. From 1996 to date not a single art piece has been acquired. “We do not see an Imran Qureshi or a Shazia Sikandar there.”

The discussion than moved towards a decent number of other important topics such as the issues of cultural autonomy and disappeared artworks.

The final part of the programme was a sitar recital by the renowned Ustad Nafees Ahmed.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2024