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Bringing Nature Back to the City Andy Warhol’s Do It Yourself (Landscape) 1962 painting by numbers emphasizes the alienation of city dwellers from the direct experience of nature. For Any Warhol landscape was not misty hills in the countryside, but gleaming rows of supermarket shelves.   The designers of the fifties were determined to invent newness to distance themselves from the ugliness of two World Wars. By the 60s, the “false joy”, as it has been called, became a very real celebration of the city, with its consumerism, plastic products and mass culture. 50 years on, the world is aghast at enormous plastic islands floating on the oceans, and the effects of climate change. As more than half the world population lives in cities, connected by motorways that slice through forests, mountains and valleys, what we consider nature, has shrunk dramatically. Progress is now a sober discussion on sustainability, eco-friendly and recyclable products . Cities are expected to

Beyond Gender Earlier this month, two extraordinary women were in the news: Fahmida Riaz, the poet, whose death was mourned by many and SP Suhai Aziz Talpur, whose triumph was celebrated by proud Pakistanis when she was at the forefront of the operation against the terrorists who attacked the Chinese Consulate in Karachi. While many feminists may celebrate them, they represent a far more complex space that cannot be contained in a traditional gender discourse.   Fahmida Riaz said in an interview with fellow poet, Amar Sindhu “I am not an exceptionally politically over-charged poet. Perhaps the only exception is that I am a woman.”   She has translated into Urdu Rumi’s Masnavi, the poetic works of Shah Latif Bhittai and Shaikh Ayaz, written about a range of political and social issues. However, her public perception is imprinted with her 1978 publication       Badan Dareeda in which she   shared her sensual awakening. She says she did not set out to shock but merely expre

From Image to Icon Photographer Alberto   Korda   captured an image of Che Guevera at a funeral of workers in Havana in 1960. Rejected by the editors of the " Revolución",   it hung in his apartment unnoticed for seven years. A few months before Che’s execution, the Italian businessman turned socialist, Feltrinelli requested a picture of Che. Korda gave him his favourite picture.   Within days of Che’s death, Feltrinelli sold millions of Che posters. The following year in 1968, the Irishman, Jim Fitzpatrick, designed the now iconic black-on-red   Che poster. A very average looking man had been turned into a smouldering revolutionary legend, inspiring social activists across generations and nations from Bolivia to Baluchistan. Allen Ginsberg said ““Whoever controls the media, the images, controls the culture.” Marketing and advertising people are well aware of this and use it as the cornerstone of communication and campaign strategies.   However there are many image

The Lotus and The Rose Two invasions had a profound impact on India –the Aryans who gave India Sanskrit and the Vedic religion and the Muslims who established Indo-Islamic Culture.   While the political impact may have faded away, both cultures have seeped seamlessly into the daily lives of Indians, both altering and being altered in the process.   Muslim expansion only took with it the Quran and Arabic, adapting and developing the existing cultures they found. India was no exception. As Reginald Massey puts it, the Lotus had met with the Rose.   Koine, a Greek word that means common or shared , is often used to describe the cross fertilization of cultures in the Muslim world   - soldiers and traders from different lands, combining of languages and lifestyles. Urdu emerged from a mix of Turkish, Persian, Arabic and now English, with a   Sanskrit grammar base.   Muslim invaders brought Islam to India, but, along with Islam, they brought Chaghatai, Persian, and Turkic cu

Humour The digital networks teem with jokes, satirical videos and memes, from politics to the absurd new world leaderships. Humour is a coping mechanism that can balance out overwhelming circumstances, neutralize aggression and heal relationships. It is also a means of expressing criticism of society that escapes social or legal restrictions.     The court jester could get away with saying things that an ordinary critic would be beheaded for. With the end of traditional kingships, the court jester transformed into the stand-up comic, holding the mirror to society’s weaknesses Dark “gallows humor”, coined by the Germans during the 1848 revolutions for the persecution of liberals is, as Antonin Obrdlik says “an index of strength or morale on the part of oppressed peoples” . Humor can be used as a weapon for mass resistance.   The Italian’s used the slogan   “ Una risata vi seppellirà ”, during protests against the Ancien Regime, which translates as “It will be a laugh that

Re-thinking Education The 1200 plus acres of the arid campus of University of Karachi magically turn lush green after the rains, hidden seeds become beautiful flowering plants, dragonflies mysteriously appear   and puddles teem with tadpoles. Teaching art feels pretty much like that: a little watering and amazing talents emerge.   Training in the creative arts by their nature must focus on self-realization and expression of the inner voice.   According to psychologist, A.I. Krupnov, self-realization, one of the aims of all education, is best achieved by persistence. While creative education assumes the student’s self-regulated persistence, many academic programmes are standardized, prescribed and inculcate passivity. If, as George Bernard Shaw says “intelligence forces us to learn”, this lack of engagement can only stem from the methodology of teaching or perceiving the content as irrelevant to the student’s future life. Many seek higher education degrees, including PhDs

Turning Thoughts into Action Social media allows a platform for ordinary people to express their opinions. Many go further and share the actions they have taken usually in the social sector such as the Robin Hood Army or Roti Bank, Fixit, and Transparent Hands However, it is also true that shelves of university libraries, and research centres are filled with amazing studies and reports and inventions that rarely cross over into the world of policy makers or manufacturers. A lot of intellectual activity becomes an end in itself. In his paper, From Thought to Action, Jonathan Dancy asks can theoretical reasoning lead to action? Or does it only create a set of beliefs and intentions? Even if action    is not the intended result of thoughtful reasoning, at the very least it needs to be shared outside the inner circle with the aim to inspire action. Philosophy and art are expected to play a quieter role as influencers, rarely expected to turn their observations into direc

“The Beautiful Sorrow of Things” I like movies with happy endings. Sadness sends me into a panic, as if I will never get out from under the weight of it all. Yet I have to admit there is an arresting beauty in sadness. Tragedy, sadness, melancholia, anxiety, and even ugliness has generated some exquisite art, music, films and theatre over the centuries. Sometimes tragic events are shown with objectivity such as the Death of Marat by David, sometimes the internal angst of the artist comes through with stunning effect such as Van Gogh’s Starry Night – the view from the window of him room in the mental asylum. In his essay ‘Atrabilious Reflections upon Melancholy’ (1823), Hartley Coleridge (son of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge) praised melancholy as a more refined state of mind than happiness: “Melancholy is the only Muse. She is Thalia and Melpomene. She inspired Milton and Michael Angelo, and Swift and Hogarth. All men of genius are melancholy – and none more so than

ART AND EMPATHY Empathy has become the hot new subject for social scientists. A relatively new term coined in 1909, it is defined as the ability to put oneself in another’s shoes. More than sympathy – feelings of compassion, or pity for the hardship of others-   empathy is the ability to feel as the other feels and may be followed by some form of action – to support, assist or simply be available. It is identified as a fundamental skill in a world where businesses cross continents, migration brings cultures in proximity to one another, and religious polarization generates wars with devastating consequences. Not restricted to humans, empathy also informs environmental policies to achieve human “progress” without destroying nature and animal habitats that are shrinking with alarming speed. The creative arts - Literature, Cinema, Music, Art, Dance - have, since the establishment of human societies, gifted society the opportunity for empathy.   Empathy gives people the ability

What’s in a Name? It is estimated that about130 million babies are born in a year. Each one will be given a carefully considered name. A name that indicates their gender, family, culture, and possibly religion.   It will indicate their parents’ aspirations with the assumption that as the child grows he or she will develop a personality and values reflected in their given name.   The importance given to naming a newborn can be gauged by the elaborate naming ceremonies across the world. Names are decided in a dizzying array of systems: Tasmiya of Muslims, the Baptism of Christians, Namakaram of Hindus, Chaathi of Parsees, The Chinese Moon-yut or red egg and ginger party. Philosophers have debated , with no clear conclusion, whether a name is merely an objective   title or a description of the person.   However, in practice, names are imbued with all manner of qualities. Some believe a name determines the destiny of a person. Numerology has been applied to names from at leas

Diaries, Journals and Notebooks Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks have probably brought him more renown with academics than the fifteen paintings he made in his life time. Filled with investigations of anatomy, botany, geology, mathematics and inventions for bridges, flying machines, war machines, submarines, musical instruments, they continue to be relevant today. A small hand bound notebook was always tied to his belt at all times, ready to jot down ideas, observations and a to-do list. The pocket notebook was also a fixture of many writers, scientists, soldiers and statesmen, including Darwin, Hemmingway, Beethoven and George Lucas. It came to be seen as a masculine, accessory. Maugham kept a writer’s notebook in which he wrote sketches of people he met who might make it into his next novel. Frieda Kahlo, Paul Klee and Picasso’s notebooks, like that of most artists were not only part of the creative process but were also a “friend” in difficult personal times. Picasso said