Truck Art gained popularity and became a source of pride and recognition for Pakistan during the last decade and has now entered the nation's drawing rooms. With a goal to bring this art into the mainstream, and give it the recognition it so richly deserves, Anjum Rana is working in close association with the master craftsmen - the truck painters - for the past seven years. The idea is to preserve this unique form of folk art and give it the respect it so richly deserves.
Having spent most of her childhood in NWFP, Anjum was fascinated by the beautiful colours of the trucks. An interior designer, who restores and reproduces antique furniture, Anjum represents the new Pakistani woman - entrepreneurial, accomplished and creative. With a discerning eye, she has brought to life everyday household objects with the richly textured motifs of truck art. These include lamps, lanterns, mugs, kettles, trays, boxes, watering cans, buckets, jewellery boxes, umbrella shades, wall hangings, mirrors, etc. With items like wheel-barrows, pedestal fans, kettles, trunks, vases, coffee tables, telephone sets, flower cans, doors and letterboxes being given a truck-art makeover, their visual appeal attains a different and varied splendour.
Running an organisation ‘Tribal Truck Art' in Pakistan, Ms Rana has much to her credit. She was awarded the UNESCO Seal of Excellence award in 2008 for the most unique application of truck art. Not only has she taken the art to various places including Australia and Scotland in the past seven years, but has also opened new avenues for this unique art by taking her famous work to the world's biggest annual folk art exhibition in Santa Fe, New Mexico, as part of the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market, in July this year. She was one proud representative of the folk art of Pakistan in a long list of 46 countries.
So how does Anjum go about in bringing down the seemingly huge art work on small objects, without having to compromise on the quality of work? She has a team of truck painters and decorators who give life to her ideas. These ideas then transform through paints, stainless steel, plastic sheets, wood and reflective tape. The transformation of ideas also requires a large number of workers who function separately in their own area of expertise. For instance, the painter who paints truck motifs on an object cannot necessarily carve the wood on the truck. The work requires not only creativity but proper skills, which are unfortunately not passed down to the younger generations of these skilled truck artists.
Anjum laments that the new generation seldom takes up their parents' profession and instead prefers to do something more rewarding in monetary terms. However, Anjum has a brighter side to show. With the much needed media coverage and promotion that truck art is now receiving in Pakistan and beyond, young children work as apprentices under the senior artists to learn the craft. With media attention and social encouragement, these young apprentices enjoy the fruits of their hard work and so does their art.
Bringing truck art into living rooms is not easy, however. It requires an aesthetic eye and the hand to work out the finesse required in small household objects. Huge motifs and designs which comparatively go rough on trucks cannot be applied in the same manner to the home collections. Minute details have to be looked after and most often it requires the soul of an artist to give a completely different finish than the original. However, Anjum strongly advocates some ‘unfinished' touch to the objects to retain the coarse beauty of the original truck art.Although she has held various exhibitions internationally and has received much acclaim from the local market, Anjum's main motive is to change the perception of those who look down upon the intrinsic art as street culture and refuse to be fascinated by its diversity. She works endlessly to help people understand the cultural significance of the art and make it accessible to urban consumers by way of aesthetic merchandising. Her devotion to the art is bearing fruit as the youth, especially those from the urban background, understand and appreciate the art and most often come up with new ideas.Rana describes truck art as a representation of the values, aspirations and dreams of not only the transporters but also the truck artists who work on it. Every motif that they design, or object that they use, represents a particular part of the country the artist or the truck driver hails from. The colourful floral patterns, depiction of human heroes with creative aspect ratios, calligraphy of poetic verses - all speak volumes about the cultural background the artists come from. However, with bringing this street art into homes, the Tribal Truck Art organisation has taken a bold step to gather different artists from various parts of the country onto a single platform. It is like a battalion of artists working under one roof to make their work recognised in the international community and, more importantly, in the local audience who couldn't even imagine making ‘truck' art part of their bedrooms
With more initiatives like Anjum Rana's Tribal Truck Art organisation, the art has huge potential to reach our homes and acclaim international recognition as an ambassador of the Pakistani tradition. The struggle of this courageous entrepreneur hasn't ended yet. She will be exhibiting her work at the Maison' de Object exhibition in Paris next year where she will showcase her valuable work and an art which Pakistan holds very dear.
restores and reproduces antique furniture, Anjum represents the new Pakistani woman - entrepreneurial, accomplished and creative. With a discerning eye, she has brought to life everyday household objects with the richly textured motifs of truck art. These include lamps, lanterns, mugs, kettles, trays, boxes, watering cans, buckets, jewellery boxes, umbrella shades, wall hangings, mirrors, etc. With items like wheel-barrows, pedestal fans, kettles, trunks, vases, coffee tables, telephone sets, flower cans, doors and letterboxes being given a truck-art makeover, their visual appeal attains a different and varied splendour.
So how does Anjum go about in bringing down the seemingly huge art work on small objects, without having to compromise on the quality of work? She has a team of truck painters and decorators who give life to her ideas. These ideas then transform through paints, stainless steel, plastic sheets, wood and reflective tape. The transformation of ideas also requires a large number of workers who function separately in their own area of expertise. For instance, the painter who paints truck motifs on an object cannot necessarily carve the wood on the truck. The work requires not only creativity but proper skills, which are unfortunately not passed down to the younger generations of these skilled truck artists.
especially those from the urban background, understand and appreciate the art and most often come up with new ideas.Rana describes truck art as a representation of the values, aspirations and dreams of not only the transporters but also the truck artists who work on it. Every motif that they design, or object that they use, represents a particular part of the country the artist or the truck driver hails from. The colourful floral patterns, depiction of human heroes with creative aspect ratios, calligraphy of poetic verses
- all speak volumes about the cultural background the artists come from. However, with bringing this street art into homes, the Tribal Truck Art organisation has taken a bold step to gather different artists from various parts of the country onto a single platform. It is like a battalion of artists working under one roof to make their work recognised in the international community and, more importantly, in the local audience who couldn't even imagine making ‘truck' art part of their bedrooms
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