ISLAMABAD: More than 65 local and international artists have joined hands to work for the rehabilitation of flood-affected people in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province by exhibiting their artwork which will be auctioned on October 10 to generate funds for the noble cause.
The exhibition has been arranged under the ARTAID initiative by Hunerkada College of Visual and Performing Art in collaboration with the Capital Development Authority of Islamabad.
It will continue till October 9 before the pieces on display are auctioned.
“We have received 130 art pieces from different artists and all of them will be auctioned to generate funds for flood victims,” Jamal Shah, the main organizer and chairman of Hunerkada, told Arab News on Thursday.
“More than 60 Pakistani and seven international artists from the United Kingdom, United States, Spain, Sweden, Belgium and Portugal have donated their art pieces for the auction,” he continued.
Shah informed the ARTAID initiative was launched in 2005 after a devastating earthquake that led to significant infrastructure damage in the northern parts of the country.
He added the main theme of the program was that artists should utilize their unique skills to help the survivors of natural disasters.
“The auction arranged under the ARTAID initiative will transcend physical boundaries since it will be livestreamed to enable bidders from different parts of the world to participate in it,” he said.
Shah informed these art pieces could also be acquired through in-kind barter, adding the buyer would be required in such cases to provide food supplies, medicines, tents, and blankets against the value of the acquired work of art.
“The base price ranges from Rs30,000 to Rs4.6 million for different art pieces,” he continued. “We hope all of the artwork will be sold since it will help us generate a handsome amount for the flood-affected people of Balochistan.”
He said the funds would be distributed with the help of Balochistan Rural Support Program which would identify the neediest among the flood-affected people.
“In the next phase, we will organize the similar exhibitions and auctions to help Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab,” he added.
Farah Mehmood, an artist from Islamabad who donated her work, applauded the initiative, saying it enabled artists like her to help people in dire need.
“I can feel the pain of flood victims who are facing this hard time,” she told Arab News.
Mehmood said she had also highlighted the human cost of such catastrophes in her work after the 2005 earthquake and 2010 floods.
“As an artist, most of my work is linked to socioeconomic issues,” she added. “I would like to urge other people to come forward as well and help our brothers and sisters in this difficult period.”
A visitor to the exhibition, Sahar Ahmed, said she had come to explore the art pieces and would convince her friends and family to buy at least some of them.
“I have taken pictures of a few very good art pieces and will share them with my friends and family members to encourage them to participate in the noble cause by purchasing as much as they can in the upcoming auction,” she told Arab News.
Naeem Farooq, another visitor, praised the paintings and said he would surely participate in the auction next month.
“These are very good paintings and I will surely purchase a few of them,” he said while calling the ARTAID initiative as something unique in Pakistan which had introduced a creative way of encouraging people to participate in charity work.