Buddha, the Taliban and Pakistan-
I have been working on this composition for quite a while. I was angered, rather revolted by what the Taliban were doing in the pristine Swat valley that has recently undergone full scale war. What has the peaceful and serene Buddha to do with the war on terror and US imperialism in Afghanistan? I have friends who try and explain that the regrouped and re-energised Taliban represent the angst against the US occupation of the Pashtun lands. Perhaps there is some truth in this. But my Gautam, what was his fault? He only talked of peace in this region and only asked us to traverse and preserve our humanity.
Who are these butchers of culture? What Islam they follow? They have no religion except barbarity and tribal notions of revenge and blood-letting. There is no excuse for the vandalism against our vital heritage - Pakistan will be a poorer place if these mad, roving fundamentalists would remove all the signs of our pre-Islamic heritage and ancient cultures.
So this painting evolved in those days of anguish. I remembered a broken Buddha head that was discovered from Swat decades ago and thanks to my useful library I got the picture. So I took the Taliban flag background, which is tri-coloured (that should be black in my not so humble opinion); and transposed the Buddha on top and to indicate my fears, I painted the star and the crescent on the green portion to represent the Muslim part of the Pakistani flag.
So this is the little story that led to the painting above. My partner likes it and a few friends who saw it, also appreciated it. I have to thank my art teacher for guiding me through the shades and shadows with little [master] strokes here and there..
I plan to do a series on it. But I will have to travel to Swat; and I am not sure when will situation normalise there. In the meantime, I plan to rely on my Gandhara books and twopence imagination.
First published here
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Er…I am no artist…but I suppose that a bit more of black eating into the image of Buddha’s head would’ve conveyed the message even more strongly…
Comment by Sidhusaaheb — February 16, 2008 @ 3:13 pm
Good post.
BTW, I apologize for the very late response from your comment on my blog so if you still want to repost my blog entry on similar subject matter feel free to.
Comment by Danial — February 16, 2008 @ 8:04 pm
Taliban is not an islamic movement. Its a regional mafia ! They have nothing to do with Islam. B***** !
Comment by mystic — February 17, 2008 @ 2:23 am
Guess out of destruction, comes something new (if you can look at it in a positive way, that is). Nice work…definitely a good beginning!
Comment by milieu — February 18, 2008 @ 6:00 pm
milieu,
‘Guess out of destruction, comes something new’ however, that does not redeem the destroyer or condone the destruction. Yes, the destruction can bring humanitarians such as Raza to raise a voice against the act, but again the act of destruction cannot be retracted.
Comment by I Me My — February 18, 2008 @ 6:29 pm
The destruction that (eternally) trails from the Talibans is indeed revolting! It’s putrid sense of brutalising and slaughtering is nonsensical. Why the Buddha?!
Apart from the deep loss of the Buddha, Raza has opened dialogue by painting this. The emotive language in the way Raza has painted the face is in absolute ‘torment’, maybe a sense of poigmant beauty lost over destruction. Particularly, I am enjoying the form of drawing of the face - the broken head. Indeed, the painting depicts many emotions - almost like time has suspended!
Continue to inspire, open dialogue and bring meaning to those of us who are always reflecting and challenging the ‘norm’ (whatever that is).
Comment by Shaheen Sultan Dhanji — February 23, 2008 @ 8:57 am
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