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National Highway Authority (NHA) Chairman Jawwad Rafique Malik has said that NHA is striving hard to advance Clean and Green Pakistan drive through afforestation along motorways and national highway network in the country.

This noble cause is being implemented with the cooperation of the students’ civil society trader’s community and stakeholders. Students have expressed a deep sense of love for their culture and national heroes through their paintings. He was addressing Street Art Competition held along the wall of the Fatima Jinnah Women University Rawalpindi here today. Plantation activity was also carried out there. More than 200 students of various colleges and universities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad including National College of Arts participated.

On this occasion, Jawwad Rafique Malik said, “Anthology of our national culture depicts regional cultures which aptly reflect our national values and traditions. The student painters have not only scattered cultural colours but they have also realized their imagination by painting beautiful pictures of our heroes which reflects their love and respect for national heroes.”

Saplings were also planted along the external wall and in the lawn of the university. Jawwad Rafique Malik also recalled an active role played by NHA for planting saplings along various segments of motorways and national highways.

“NHA network is being beautified and cleaned to ensure the provision of a healthy environment to the travellers. Such activities shall also be arranged on other cities of the country,” he added.

Source: https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/03/26/street-art-competition-reflects-students-love-for-culture-national-heroes-nha-chairman/

With a passion to bring their work to the masses, hundreds of participants of the Street Art Competition 2018 began painting the walls of Maulana Shaukat Ali Road for a third and last consecutive Sunday.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Founder and CEO Artistan Mudassir Zia said that in Pakistan, access to art had been restricted to a select few and the masses could not see works of art anymore.

Zia said that Artistan seeks to change that and along with being an anti-wall chalking campaign, it hopes to promote arts in a way that a common Pakistani had access to it. He said that Artistan, a social enterprise working to promote art and traditions, wanted to showcase their artwork in such a way that anyone could enjoy it.

He said that the idea of Street Art Competition was to bring together artists and make the cities of the country beautiful. He said that elite universities and institutions should encourage their students to participate in such events instead of restricting them.

The Street Art Competition 2018 was started as an annual competition since 2010 and Sunday was the last part of the competition this year. Around 400 participants from 80 teams competed on the last day of the event and the winners will be announced on April 8.

The competition carries eight prizes. First place will be given a cash prize of Rs100,000, second will have Rs60,000 and the team in the third place will receive Rs40,000.

Painting a mural of flute players with her team, Aiman Khokhar from the Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) said that their work was inspired by Risalo, a puppet film which features the work of renowned Sufi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai. “It is very unfortunate that people in Pakistan don’t know about the works of Bhittai. We want to highlight his poetry that draws attention to and focuses on realism and deep thought.”

Another team from the COMSATS, Zainul Abideen, who was working on a mural depicting a man in a traditional turban along with calligraphy on the sides, said that his team wanted to depict spirituality, peace based on the Sufi traditions of Pakistan. He added that his team wanted to promote peace through their artwork.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2018.

The artists came together on Sunday at the Maulana Shaukat Ali Road for the Street Art Competition 2018 organised by Artisan, a social enterprise working to promote the arts and traditions in society. The competition also carries prizes for the winners to be decided after the end of this year’s competition.

A total of 450 artists participated on Sunday in 94 teams painting different sceneries on the white outer walls of the university. The participants painted different notable personalities as well as sceneries depicting different cultural and visual aspects of Pakistan. The competition will continue till next Sunday with more artists competing for the prizes.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Artisan’s Founder and CEO Mudassir Zia said the Street Art Competition was an anti-wall chalking campaign. He said Artisan had organised the competition in different regions of the country that include Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan. “Moreover,” he said, “the competition had been organised in 21 cities of Punjab alone,” Zia said.

“The activity promotes arts among students and the reason it is held on a weekend – Sunday, is to engage as many students as possible, though the activity has not been limited to students as anyone can participate,” he said. “The activity also helped bring art to the common man of Pakistan, as most of the population did not have access to art galleries. The Street Art Competition was started in 2010 and had been held since then regularly.”

He said around 600 metres of the wall was being painted today (Sunday) and the final part of the current year’s competition would be held on Sunday, March 25. “The paint and other equipment for the participants were provided by the sponsor of the event. The competition carries a total of 10 prizes for consecutive position worth a total of Rs300,000. The first prize is of Rs100,000, the second for Rs60,000 and the third for Rs40,000,” Zia said.

Painting a mural of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Tooba Malik, a participant along with her team members Saira Bibi and Arfa Azeem, from Rawalpindi and Sialkot respectively, said they chose to paint Nusrat because of his iconic personality as well as his international stature. She said they wanted to showcase the colours of Pakistan with their work. “We also want to end the ugly wall chalking prevalent in the country and will rather see beautiful works of art,” she added.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2018.

Artists from various schools and colleges came together for the wall street art competition, to reclaim the walls of Lahore which for years have been covered with graffiti, publicising everything from love for a soulmate to hate for political parties.

The competition is an exclusive anti wall chalking campaign organised by Artistan and Message Welfare Trust, every year.

Artists and volunteers in the sixth season of the Street Art Competition, reclaimed the walls by painting them with cheerful designs aimed at bringing some happiness and pride back to the city.

Students and volunteers paint Allama Iqbal and famous monuments of Pakistan. PHOTO: ONLINE

Students seen painting Saadat Hasan Manto, a Pakistani writer, playwright and author who was considered among the greatest writers of short stories in South Asian history. PHOTO: ONLINE

The competition is an exclusive anti wall chalking campaign organised by Artistan and Message Welfare Trust, every year. PHOTO: AP

An art student works on a painting, during the city beautification project, showing Pakistan’s Army, Navy and Air Force saving Pakistan’s children on a wall. PHOTO: REUTERS

Art students works on a painting, during the city beautification project, showing Pakistan’s Army, Navy and Air Force saving Pakistan’s children on a wall. PHOTO: ONLINE

Artists and volunteers in the sixth season of the Street Art Competition, come together to reclaim the walls of Lahore. PHOTO: NNI

PHOTO: AP

A Pakistani art student decorates a wall along a street in Lahore on November 22, 2015. PHOTO: AFP

http://tribune.com.pk/story/997435/lahore-students-participate-in-wall-street-art-competition/