At this year’s Lahore Literary Festival (LLF), on a rather unobtrusive table in the outdoor food court of the Avari hotel, one of the most unusual developments to occur was also one of the least publicised: the release of what is perhaps Pakistan’s first published graphic novel.

Titled Sparrow at Heart, the lavishly illustrated and attractively produced book is a tribute to artist Shakir Ali (1916-1975), an introducer of modern art to Pakistan and one-time principal of the National College of Arts (NCA) in Lahore.

Written by young artists Haider Ali Jan and Zain Naqvi and illustrated by them along with their collaborators Nimra Jahangir and Haider Ali Akmal, Sparrow at Heart documents in English the life of one of the country’s most influential artists, whose accomplishments are not quite as well-known as his contemporaries (such as Sadequain).

The book traces the artist from his birth in Rampur, through his formative years in Europe, and on to his years at the Mayo School of Arts (later renamed the National College of Arts). Along the way we are given insights into his life; both public and private, political and personal, with encounters and influences ranging from Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Intizar Husain to the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke and the architecture of Prague.

“We thought it would be nice to pay tribute to one of our old masters,” said Haider Ali Jan when I asked him what prompted him to produce the graphic novel. “Loosely talking, the notion of modernity starts from Shakir”, he added. Zain Naqvi agreed: “the crux of NCA — how things are being done, the energy — somehow or the other comes from Shakir”.

A graphic novel based on the life of the artist Shakir Ali presents all the nuances of his personality

While it is difficult to pack into a work of this format enough details to satisfy the biographer or the historian, the writers gave due diligence to researching their subject and portraying Shakir as a multi-faceted individual. The authors interviewed old colleagues and students and dug through archive and documentary material at NCA and PTV in order to gather information about the man. Some of this primary source material is woven into the text in the form of letters and quotations from Shakir himself. “It’s not really possible to be neutral, but we wanted to be as neutral as possible”, said Jan. “You cannot put in your own version of history”, stated Naqvi.

Thus, while the book is an encomium to mark the centennial of the artist’s birth, it is not hagiographical. Shakir’s idiosyncrasies and questionable positions on everything from personal relationships to administrative functions are depicted — not in great detail, but with enough particulars to allow the reader to recognise that the man’s existence was not devoid of contradictions and complexities. For instance, references are made several times to Shakir’s allegiance to socialism, but he is also portrayed as a reserved character hesitant to launch into revolutionary activity or challenge authority, and the writers state that socialistic themes appear in his work to a far lesser extent than sometimes alleged.

Artistically, the book adapts and takes visual cues from Shakir’s own work, so that by the time one reaches the end and is confronted by eight of Shakir’s paintings, one is familiar with the style of his art. Fans of Dave McKean’s work in Arkham Asylum and Todd Klein’s lettering in Sandman may also appreciate this graphic novel, and Naqvi acknowledges a possible unconscious influence of these comics on Sparrow at Heart.

It is therefore unsurprising that the graphic novel has in many places a dreamlike quality to it. Faceless people and hazy backgrounds permeate the pages; this ostensibly simple style has its subtleties, however, and does not detract from the book’s narrative power — quite the opposite, in fact. When I asked Naqvi why Shakir’s nameless sister, who played an important role in his life, was initially drawn with expressive facial features but in later pages rendered blank-faced, he cited the film Almanya: Welcome to Germany as an influence on this “fading to nothingness”. Characters appear and disappear without explanation, leaving a void filled with poignant curiosity in their wake.

Research included, Sparrow at Heart took just four months to complete, a surprisingly short time in which to produce a book of this quality (apart from a few typographical errors, the book has been printed of a high standard). The book was published by Messy Squares, an art collective founded by Jan and Naqvi, and was partly inspired by the artists hearing Vishwajyoti Ghosh at LLF two years ago, and then being encouraged by comic journalism pioneer Joe Sacco last year to produce their own work.

“Shakir was never a household name”, says Jan, pointing out that the academically-trained Shakir was always less popular than the self-taught Sadequain. Given the absence of written material about the man, Sparrow at Heart serves as an excellent introduction to Shakir Ali’s life and work, and will hopefully prompt interested readers to visit the Shakir Ali Museum in Lahore and learn more about the artist and his significant role in the development of Pakistani art.

The reviewer is an antiquarian and freelance writer.

Sparrow at Heart
(GRAPHIC NOVEL)
By Haider Ali Jan and Zain Naqvi
Messy Squares, Lahore
88pp.

The book is available at The Last Word bookshop in Lahore.