Farrukh Adnan’s love for crafts goes back to the early days of his childhood in Tulamba, a small town in Khanewal district. Now a promising visual artist, he was born into a working class family with no exposure to visual arts.

“The historical town was destroyed and reconstructed three times in the known history of the region. Our house is located at the edge of the city from where one can view the ruins of the old city. While opening our gate we would see the mounds of an archaeological site. Then we would keep waiting eagerly for time to go to our play land, one kilometre away from house,” says Adnan while remembering his childhood.

He still remembers the excitement of finding clay figurines, bowls toys, beads, coins and bricks from the archaeological site. Most of the artifacts appeared on the surface after heavy rains. Curious about the history of the place and the stories they had heard about it, there was a sense of competition among Adnan and his playmates to collect and keep the maximum number of items. He would spend long hours at the archaeological site.

Adnan developed an association with crafts, collecting images from magazines and drawing during his teenage.

“Raised in a small town, I had no exposure to art education but developed interest in reading about archaeology and visiting archaeological sites. I was not clear about what to pursue as a career when I came to Lahore for graduation,” he recalls.

Fascinated by the huge billboards and publicity culture of the city, he joined the National College of Arts (NCA) to major in Graphic Designing.

“During studies, I got attracted to fine arts and studied painting, printmaking, weaving and ceramics as minor subjects. At times, I felt all the disciplines of art were meant for me. I would curiously read the details of architectural plans.”

Practising as a graphic designer, Farrukh Adnan ventured into various genres of photography, including portrait and landscapes.

“I realised after going through a lot of work that one can spend a lifetime in mastering just a single genre of photography. I kept on experimenting in my own ways. Like during tent-pegging events, I would focus on the people and environment rather than the action of adventurous sports.”

Photography was paying good but Farrukh was in pursuit of developing a visual expression of his own. Meeting Salima Hashmi and joining the Beaconhouse National University to do Masters in Visual Arts was a watershed moment in his career as it opened up a new world of experimenting with mediums, including sounds and installations, that helped him conclude all my previous practices into semi-abstract and abstract visuals.

Working as a whole-time artist, Farrukh has a couple of solo shows and a good number of group shows to his credit. His body of works after practising various art forms is based on the drawings, which are inspired by his lifelong attachment with artefacts, indigenous crafts and mystery of abandoned archaeological sites. They are subjective expression of all his association and perceptions about the historical places he experienced and studied.

Working daily for more than 12 hours, Farrukh has developed these visuals gradually after going through a lot of consistent hard work. These ink drawings are close to the works done in a spontaneous way by recording moments of quick action in Western and Japanese paintings. In his special case, he generated spontaneity by patience and slow labour. His sharp sense of composing the negative spaces enhances the impact of visuals knitted with intricate details.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2018