It was only a few months back when Katha joint hands with The Rotary Club and made a came-back with a fundraiser theatrical play “Main Adakara Banun Gi” which was such huge success not only because the performance was doubtlessly brilliant but also the cause attached to the fundraiser was also an equal match.

This time again KATHA along with The Rotary Club is bringing yet another fundraiser theatrical show “Kahaniyan”, a set of three one act plays directed by Shahid Shafat with Sania Saeed being the lead role in all three acts. Other performers include Ehteshamuddin, Saleem Meraj, and Akber Khan.

The play is a series of three comedy plays, based on short stories : .

Khan Ka Ishq: Adapted from Auntie by Henry James is a comical and pathetic tale of a middle-aged woman, desperately guarding her faded youth for the sake of love.

Lottery by Anton Chekhov, is a story of a husband and wife who are ecstatic at the fact that the wife has won a lottery that will make them rich beyond their wildest dreams.

Subha : an adaptation of “Sunny Morning” originally written by Serafin and Joaquin Alvarez Quintero. a romentic comedy of two old people meeting each other randomly in a park, they thought they were strangers but is that really so… (more…)

On 13th November 2009 at Karachi Marriott Hotel (crystal ball room), the Network of Organizations Working for People with Disabilities, Pakistan (NOWPDP) will be hosting an evening of entertainment, featuring a new Grips play by Imran Aslam, followed by dinner.

Tables of 10 seats will be available to guests, for which an appropriate voluntary donation will be appreciated. All proceeds from the night will go towards funding the activities of NOWPDP in improving the lives of people with disabilities in Pakistan. If you are interested in attending the event, please contact the NOWPDP office on +92-21-3586 5501, (Ext. 237) . (more…)

We often tend to forget that the underprivileged children living bellow the poverty line in the same city as we do, deemed, uneducated and verminous creatures are equally talented and creative as any other child from the “Educated” and privileged lot, they are equally responsible citizens with great potential to shape the future of this country for a better and brighter tomorrow.

Every year The annual Machar art exhibition proves and reminds us over and again that these children, homed in one of the cities largest shanty town are sheer victims of our arrogance and ignorance, they are no less then any other of us actually even better as they are battling through their tough circumstances and yet they have the patience to politely express their emotions, dreams, stories and thoughts through art with colorful drawings, photographs and pottery.

This year again Concern for Children Trust has brought the hopes, dreams stories and thoughts of these underprivileged children of Karachi’s largest shanty town Machar colony to the privileged of the city with hope that their story might move a soul or melt down a few heart to tears and then maybe we might just break out of this shell of arrogance and embrace them as fellow citizens.

The 4th Annual Machar Art Exhibition titled “Yehan Say Shehr Ko Dekho” will be opening on the 2nd of October, 2009, 7 pm  sharp, at the Zahoor -ul- Akhlaq Gallery, Indus Valley School of art and Architecture. The Exhibition will continue till the 5th, October 2009 (Except Sunday).

For further details and information contact.

Concern for Children Trust:
Web: http://www.concernforchildren.org.pk
Email: info@concernforchildren.org.pk
Phone: (021) 220-1522 & 220-1384

The first one at their gallery is titled Bereft in the Fatherland, a series of photographs, incredible black an white portraits of children from Macher Colony and a video installation, a loop back of the daily routine of children on streets of Machar colony. The exhibition highlights the conditions in which these underprivileged people are forced to live down below the poverty line and their innocent beautiful children, deprived of basic education, health care and nutrition, dwelling on the streets and we oblivious of their existence.

The other exhibition held at the home of renowned architect Habib Fida Ali is a marvelous collection of Chitarkari or Schist(Slate) stone engraving a collaborative work of Renowned Chitarkar, Muhammed Ilyas and Noorjehan Bilgrami.

The two masters have engraved intriguing designs celebrating our cultural identity.The repetitive geometrical patterns symbolic to Islamic art and carved peepal and Chambaily patterns in in their traditional radiations carved out on the stones placed in an aesthetically complementing environment, shaded under a thick cover of peepal trees in a garden of a beautiful, over a hundred year old building, is obvious to create a magically mesmerizing environment.

Both the Exhibitions will remain open till the 22nd of August, 2009.

Habib Fida Ali's Residence Map

For more details:
Call: (+92-21) 5831292
Email: gallerykoel@gmail.com

“as i see it”, a four person art show in mix media including paintings, digital prints, digital photographs, and sculptures opened yesterday at the Canvas Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan.

The show exhibits different art work by four brilliant artists each one of them expressing their observations in thought provoking statements invoking strong emotions and feelings in their own individual way, from some of the most ordinary scenes of out of our daily lives.

(more…)

Glass is a fascinating medium for art, but sadly art schools in the country don’t have the facility to teach glass blowing and molding techniques as the kiln used in the process is very expensive and consumes a lot of electricity which makes it almost absolutely imposable for any art school or facility to operate a kiln.

Being the reason, artwork made out of glass is fairly a rare sight in art galleries across Pakistan but thanks to artist Martin Willem who has been visiting Pakistan on and off quite often since almost a decade, and had exhibited his amazing work of hand blown glass in 2006 for the first time in Faisalabad and then again in 2008 in Lahore and the same year in Islamabad too,  providing art students and enthusiasts exposure the this wonderful medium across the country.
(more…)

It is always a delight to see young people coming out show there talent, specially in art with  strong and mature expressions and this exhibition titled From Father To Son is one such unique exhibition which exhibits incredibly stunning art work by a father, Tariq Alexander Qaiser an architect by profession and a photographer by passion and his fifteen year old son,  Kayhan Feroze Qaiser side by side. 

Remarkably the fifteen year old contributor’s work is so is so strong and well balanced that one really cant imagine that this photographer would be so young until one meets Kayhan in person.

(more…)

Both Katha and Sania Saeed (whom I consider the finest actress ever) is making a comeback into the theatre scene after a span of five years with a play ‘Main Adakara Banu Gi’. The play has been adapted from ‘Educating Rita’ by Willy Rusal and is written by Baber Jamal. It revolves around two individuals, a young female student (Sania Saeed) who hails from the Peela (yellow) school culture and is eager to learn acting, and another a veteran actor and teacher (Ehteshamuddin). ‘Mein Adakara Banoongi’ will be performed from 6 to 9 June at the Arts Council, timings are 8 PM.

The ticket is priced at Rs. 700 and is available at Agha’s. The proceeds will go to charitable programs of the Rotary Club of Karachi. The play boasts to be socially relevant and humorous, in addition you will delighted to see two great actors performing so go for it if you plan to do so.

Photo credit: FB Event

Do visit and encourage these young photographers and their art about Karachi.

An exhibition of provocative and powerful work by ten highly acclaimed artists who explore the limitlessness of aesthetic dialogue towards the expression of our current events will be opening at KOEL Gallery on 21st of May 2009.

The participation artists for this exhibition include: 

   Abdul Jabbar Gul, A.R.Nagori, Afshar Malik, Ghalib Baqar, Jamal Shah, Qudsia Nisar, Nahid Raza, R.M.Nadeem, Salima Hashmi, Sumaya Durrani.

The exhibition will continue till the first of June 2009.

Koel Gallery:

+92 (21) 5831292

F-42/2, block 4, Scheme 5 Clifton , Karachi