Young Artists’ Exhibition, an annual event of Lahore cultural calendar for the last 13 years featuring painting, sculpture, installation, video, miniature painting, drawings, printmaking and graphic arts, will begin at Alhamra Art Gallery today (Wednesday).
The exhibition, by the Lahore Arts Council, provides a platform to young artists to display their artworks to gain recognition in the art circles and compete for Young Artists’ Award, one of the most prestigious awards, for their artworks.
For the exhibition, artworks have been received from all over Pakistan in different disciplines. The age limit to participate in the exhibition-cum-competition is 35 years. Dates for submitting the artworks were from January 23 to February 28. Approximately 850 artworks were received, of which 500 works, created by 400 artists, have been selected by the jury to be put on display. The jury will be revealed at the inaugural day of the art show. The jury has selected 10 best works for a Rs10,000 prize each along with shields and certificates. For remarkable artworks, five consolation prizes would also be given with shields and certificates.
Lahore Arts Council Executive Director retired Capt Atta Muhammad Khan said the exhibition provided a platform for the youth to exhibit their works to a larger audience at the national level. The Lahore Arts Council was thankful to artists for their participation in the exhibition with a great amount of enthusiasm.
Assistant Director Minaa Haroon every artwork was exclusively phenomenal; the exhibition would be instrumental in creating a dialogue on what youth think in terms of art and translating their thoughts and views through their artworks.
The exhibition will be inaugurated by Additional Chief Secretary Omer Rasul and will remain on display till April 29.
Ajoka: Ajoka’s three-day Azaadi Theatre Festival kicked off at Alhamra Art Centre on Tuesday with a play called Chaak Chakkar.
The festival has been organised in collaboration with Lahore Arts Council. At the opening of the festival, Shahid Mehmood Nadeem of Ajoka said the inaugural play was first staged in 1985 at Goethe Institute Lahore during Gen Ziaul Haq’s martial law. He said the play had great relevance to the present times.
Also being the writer of the play, Mr Nadeem shared with the audience that Ajoka had introduced new actors through the play. “In this play, you will see many new faces along with old ones,” he added.
He further said Madeeha Gauhar, the director of all three plays being staged during the festival, was unwell but had sent a message that the audience should keep their mobile phones switched off during the play.
Chaak Chakkar is an Urdu adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s celebrated play, The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Its story was based on a Chinese legend and placed in the Soviet Union around the end of the World War II. Brecht used the legend to present the question of social ownership and the greed and selfishness of a capitalist society.
Nadeem’s adaptation is placed in the period of political upheavals during the fall of the Mughal empire in India. The central character is Rano, a maid, who rescues Subedar Akharzai’s baby and looks after him despite her poverty and the adverse security situation, even sacrificing the love of her fiancé.
The play was meaningful for contemporary Pakistan while the period costumes and captivating songs in the Brechtian tradition made the play enjoyable.