Sindh in visual culture discussed
KARACHI: French scholar Julien Levesque delivered a short lecture on the representation of Sindh in visual culture during the past four to five decades at the Alliance Francaise Karachi on Thursday evening.
Mr Levesque said he’d be discussing the cultural identity marks – ajrak, Sindhi topi, Moenjodaro stupas – that had been associated with Sindhi culture over the past ‘few decades’.
He referred to the recently celebrated cultural day and mentioned that when President Asif Ali Zardari went to Afghanistan in 2009 wearing a Sindhi topi it was turned into a topic of discussion by a television anchor. However, this kind of representation of Sindhi culture was now being shared across the board by Sindhis and non-Sindhis alike.
Mr Levesque said in the 1950s the Sindhi Adabi Board was set up and scholars documented and indexed practices that defined life in Sindh. The cultural themes revolved around rural characteristics of the region. Many of the cultural entrepreneurs who were highly educated detached themselves from rural life. At this point, Mr Levesque showed images of a flute player and of women carrying water from a journal, Mehran. He argued urban life was ignored as Sindh towns were also bustling places. Even if urban life was shown, it would be done in a traditional manner.
He said rural life found its way into popular culture as well. In this regard, he spoke about a film titled Umar Marvi and showed very short clips from it. He said it was set in a desert and had shots of camels and sand dunes. He commented that at the time morality and countryside life had become dominant themes.
Mr Levesque also touched upon other communities, including Sheedi and Memon, settled in Sindh and remarked that individual trajectories had been ignored. Later, he showed bits of two music videos, one of Ahmed Mughal’s famous song ‘Sindh Wara Jiyen’ and the other of ‘Rano’ by pop band The Sketches. He pointed out that Ahmed Mughal, in the video, mingled with the crowd against the backdrop of the river Indus, whereas The Sketches sat on the ground. The latter symbolised urban culture but were also part of the village scene. Both videos were examples of folklore represented in different ways, but stemming from the same civilisation.
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