KARACHI: Traditional truck art, which brings color and humor to the landscape of Pakistani roads, is making a new entry into the international pop culture scene through an unexpected medium: Nike sneakers.
Photos of the Nike sports shoes decorated with floral ornaments, peacocks, and mascara-rimmed eyes have gone viral on social media last week, putting Karachi-based artist Haider Ali in the spotlight.
Some amazing trick art hand painted trainers by Haider Ali from Sahiwal. @fazail922 pic.twitter.com/WdeNiafS3R
— Zulfiqar Ahmed (@ZulfiqarAhmed69) January 1, 2022
“A client came with sneakers and asked me to paint them,” the 41-year-old artist told Arab News. “I made these designs in a week’s time.”
A third generation of truck artists, he started painting at the age of seven and has since brought the colorful South Asian technique also to rickshaws, cars, aircraft, buildings, apparel and items of daily use. He made international headlines in 2020 when he painted a mural portraying George Floyd, an African-American who was killed by the US police that year, becoming a symbol of resistance against racial discrimination.
Pakistani truck-art painter Haider Ali, 40, poses next to a mural, depicting George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis police custody in US., in Karachi, Pakistan, June 12, 2020. (Reuters)
A former lecturer at the prestigious Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Ali also runs a truck art design school and studio at his residence in Karachi’s Hawke’s Bay, and has been training his children to follow in his footsteps.
“I have spent my life with these colors and trucks,” he said. “I am now training my own children, to carry the family legacy forward as well as to keep this beautiful art form alive.”
Besides the trucks that ply the roads of the seaside metropolis with both traditional motifs and portraits ranging from Pakistani greats to Princess Diana, Ali’s art is visible across Karachi, decorating its walls, bridges and pillars with vivid designs and hues.
The undated photo shows Princess Diana painted on a truck by Pakistani truck-art painter Haider Ali. (Photo courtesy: Haider Ali)
Like the George Floyd painting on his house, some of Ali’s other murals have also been dedicated to those who became the symbols of their time. His two portraits on the walls of the Karachi Press Club show Pakistani social activists Sabin Mehmood and Parveen Rehman, both of whom were assassinated in relation to their work.
Truck art is for Ali a way to express all “colors of Pakistan.”
The undated photo shows truck-art themed car painted by Pakistani truck-art painter Haider Ali. (Photo courtesy: Haider Ali)
Already present abroad, especially in the UK and in the US, where he painted a truck for the Smithsonian Institute, he wishes his work could also reach the Middle East.
“I wish to get commissioned work from Saudi Arabia and UAE,” he said, expressing hope “the people of these nations could also see how beautiful Pakistan’s truck art is.”
