An exhibition of calligraphy titled “Loh-o-Qalam” opened here on Thursday at Alhamra Art Gallery. The exhibition was inaugurated by Provincial Minister for Finance Makhdoom Jawan Bakht along with Chairperson BOG Lahore Arts Council Moneeza Hashmi and executive Director Alhamra Saman Rai.
Speaking on the occasion, the minister Hashim Jawan Bakht praised the artists and termed the art of calligraphy an intellectual legacy of Muslims. He said: “People would be encouraged to learn the art of calligraphy.” He highly appreciates the efforts of the Lahore Arts Council to arrange such activities to promote belief and culture.
The event featured the works of traditional and contemporary artists in the field of calligraphy in various styles and scripts. A total number of 160 works of art by more than 100 artists from across the country are on display. There are two categories in the exhibition, one is the Quranic art and the other based on poetry. This exhibition showcased the works from eminent calligraphers of Pakistan such as, Khursid Alam Gauhar, Abdul Rehman, Khalid Siddiqui, Aslam Kamal Shaukat Ali Minhas Zari Qaalam, Jamil Khan Wajid Mehmood, Munnawar Islam, Amir Manzoor, Irfan Qureshi, and several others have contributed their works for this display.
The displayed work based on Aayaat e Qurani, Hadees, poetry, in which mostly poems written by Allama. The exhibited work is a great blend of traditional and modern art. Calligraphers used all five Khats – Nastaleeq, Naskh, Sulus, Deewani and Khat-e-Kufi – in their beautiful artworks.
One of the most interesting features of the exhibition is that for the first time, a series of five-day calligraphy workshops have been held. On the first day of workshop Irfan Ahmad Qureshi and the fifth day, Abdul Rehman Abdu and Nasir Khan will teach the art of calligraphy to the participants in detail. And on the sixth day, a children’s workshop has also been organizing.
