Aiming to bridge divides, Karachi art exhibition brings together 100 painters from across Pakistan

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Visitors witness paintings on display during the three-day National Art Exhibition 2023 at the Ahmed Parvez Art Gallery at Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi, on March 17, 2023. (Photo courtesy: ACP)
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Paintings made by artists from all four provinces of Pakistan on display during the National Art Exhibition 2023 at the Ahmed Parvez Art Gallery at Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi, on March 17, 2023. (Photo courtesy: ACP)
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Updated 19 March 2023
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Aiming to bridge divides, Karachi art exhibition brings together 100 painters from across Pakistan

  • The exhibition is taking place at the Ahmed Parvez art gallery at the Arts Council of Pakistan 
  • It features artworks of a diverse lineup, including Anwar Maqsood, Ijazul Hassan, Zulfiqar Zulfi 

KARACHI: As the National Art Exhibition 2023 kicked off at the Arts Council of Pakistan (ACP) in Karachi this week, its organizer shared the exhibition aimed to bridge the ethnic, political, and sectarian divides by bringing together painters from all over Pakistan. 

The three-day exhibition is being held at the Ahmed Parvez art gallery and is a collaboration between the ACP and the National Artists Association of Pakistan. 

The exhibition features artworks of a diverse lineup, including Anwar Maqsood, Ijazul Hassan, Zulfiqar Zulfi, Farrukh Shahab, AS Rand, Moin Farooqui, Shahid Rasam and Abbas Kamangar. 

“Despite cultural diversity, there is a lot of ethnic, political, and sectarian divide across Pakistan,” ACP President Mohammad Ahmed Shah told Arab News on Saturday. 

“To bridge that, we are holding National Arts Exhibition that features works of prominent painters from all four provinces.” 




Paintings made by artists from all four provinces of Pakistan on display during the National Art Exhibition 2023 at the Ahmed Parvez Art Gallery at Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi, on March 17, 2023. (Photo courtesy: ACP)

While Punjab was the hub, Shah informed, the ACP received artworks from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Balochistan and Sindh. 

“The purpose is to create national integrity through culture and art,” he said. “All these colors [in the paintings] are depicting their respective cultures.” 

The exhibition first took place in Lahore over a month ago after which it is being organized in the southern port city of Karachi, according to the organizer. 

Those who weren’t part of the Lahore exhibition are also showcasing their work at the Karachi show. 

“Artists can make an effort to work toward reducing the ethnic divide,” Quddus Mirza, an art critic, told Arab News. “Any creative act brings people together irrespective of their differences.” 

Veteran artist Ajab Khan said art had never had boundaries. 

“The field of art is associated with love,” he told Arab News. “An artist is only able to produce colors on the canvas with love.” 

Shah said the gallery is often visited by art collectors. 

“The art exhibition is a welcome change,” Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori said as he inaugurated the exhibition on Friday. “Social evils were born in the country when poets, intellectuals and painters had been silenced in the past.” 


‘Bridgerton’ actress says she was warned not to campaign for Palestinians

Updated 26 April 2024
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‘Bridgerton’ actress says she was warned not to campaign for Palestinians

  • Nicola Coughlan: Hollywood insiders told her advocacy could harm her career
  • Irish star feels ‘moral responsibility’ to campaign for ceasefire, continue to fundraise 

LONDON: Irish actress Nicola Coughlan has revealed that she was told her Palestinian advocacy could harm her career.

The “Bridgerton” and “Derry Girls” star told Teen Vogue she had been warned by people in Hollywood not to be openly supportive of Palestinian rights, but has continued to campaign for a ceasefire in Gaza and still publicly wears an Artists4Ceasefire pin.

“You do get told, ‘you won’t get work, you won’t do this,’ but I also think, deep down, if you know that you’re coming from a place of ‘I don’t want any innocent people to suffer,’ then I’m not worried about people’s reactions,” she said.

“My family lived in Jerusalem back in the late ‘70s, early ’80s, before I was born, so I heard first hand stories about them living there.”

She said her father, who served in the Irish military, went to a “lot of war-torn regions after the conflict and try and help rebuild,” and this had left a profound impression on her.

“I’m so lucky I’ve gotten to this point in my career, and I’m privileged as a white woman, first off.

“Then the fact that I get to do the job I love and travel the world and meet amazing people, I feel a moral responsibility to give back.”

She has made a point of continuing to campaign and raise money around the issue, adding: “To me, it always becomes about supporting all innocent people, which sounds oversimplified, but I think you’ve got to look at situations and just think, ‘Are we supporting innocent people no matter where they’re from, who they are?’ That’s my drive.”

Coughlan said social media plays a role in driving advocacy but it requires nuance. “More of us should be trying to understand how upsetting and traumatising this is for Jewish people, and how horrific it is that all these innocent people in Palestine are being murdered,” she added.

A number of Hollywood figures have faced repercussions for their open support of the Palestinians or criticism of Israel.

Mexican actress Melissa Barrera was fired from the latest “Scream” film over social media posts in support of Palestine, while director Jonathan Glazer caused controversy for using his acceptance speech at the Oscars for his film “The Zone of Interest” to criticize the Gaza war.


‘Game of Thrones’ star Liam Cunningham says world will ‘not forget’ those who stayed silent on Gaza

Updated 26 April 2024
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‘Game of Thrones’ star Liam Cunningham says world will ‘not forget’ those who stayed silent on Gaza

  • Irishman has been vocal advocate for Palestinian causes for decades

LONDON: Irish actor Liam Cunningham has said the public will “not forget” those who have not voiced support for Palestinians during the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

The “Game of Thrones” star has been a vocal advocate for Palestinian causes for decades. Speaking during a demonstration in Dublin led by Irish-Palestinian Ahmed Alagha, who has lost 44 family members in the recent Israeli assault on Gaza, Cunningham said he has been commended by his peers in the past for his activism.

“What concerns me is that the people who do care and are not doing anything are, in my opinion, worse than the people who don’t care,” he said.

Cunningham was asked if he had spoken to other actors to convince them to show support for the Palestinian cause, but responded by saying he could not speak for others, The Independent reported.

However, he added, “The internet doesn’t forget. When this comes around, when the ICJ (International Court of Justice) and ICC (International Criminal Court) hopefully do their work honorably, it is going to come out,” he said.

“And the people who didn’t talk — it is not going to be forgotten. It’s livestreamed, this genocide, and (saying) you didn’t know is not an option. You did know. And you did nothing. You stayed quiet. I need to be able to look in the mirror, and that’s why I speak,” he added.

A month after Israel launched its onslaught on Gaza in response to Hamas incursions on Oct. 7 in Israeli territory in which nearly 1,200 people were killed and around 250 hostages were taken, Cunningham said that for Irish people to ignore the treatment of Palestinians would be to “betray” their history.

“If we allow ourselves to accept this behavior, then we allow it to happen to us,” he said at the time. “We have to stand up for standards. We have to stand up for international law and it reduces us as human beings if we don’t.”

Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them children and women, according to Hamas-run health authorities in the enclave.


Saudi Film ‘Hajjan’ wins 6 nominations at Critics Awards for Arab Films

Updated 26 April 2024
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Saudi Film ‘Hajjan’ wins 6 nominations at Critics Awards for Arab Films

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia-based film “Hajjan,” directed by Egyptian filmmaker Abu Bakr Shawky, is nominated for six categories at the eighth Critics Awards for Arab Films.

The movie is competing in the best feature film, best screenplay, best actor, best music, best cinematography and best editing categories. 

“Hajjan” tells the story of Matar, a boy who embarks on a journey across the desert with his camel, Hofira.

The movie is a co-production between the Kingdom’s King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, or Ithra, and Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy’s Film Clinic. 

The movie, which is written by Omar Shama from Egypt and the Kingdom’s Mufarrij Almajfel, stars Saudi actors Abdulmohsen Al-Nemer, Ibrahim Al-Hsawi, among others. 

The awards ceremony, scheduled for May 18 on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival, is organized by the Arab Cinema Center in Cairo and assessed by a panel of 209 critics representing 72 countries. 

Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s inaugural feature film, “Goodbye Julia,” and Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated documentary, “Four Daughters,” scored nominations in seven categories. 

Jordanian filmmaker Amjad Al-Rasheed’s “Inshallah A Boy” and Palestinian-British director Farah Nabulsi’s “The Teacher” have six nominations.


Emirati designer Hamda Al-Fahim dresses Anya Taylor-Joy for Tiffany event

Updated 26 April 2024
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Emirati designer Hamda Al-Fahim dresses Anya Taylor-Joy for Tiffany event

DUBAI: US actress Anya Taylor-Joy this week was spotted at the Tiffany & Co. celebration of the launch of Blue Book in Beverly Hills wearing a dress by Emirati designer Hamda Al-Fahim.

The actress from “The Queen’s Gambit,” who is the ambassador for the American luxury jewelry label, impressed her fans in a head-turning dark golden brown dress that featured a corset-styled bodice paired with a fitted velvet skirt that flowed down, culminating in a short train trailing behind her.

The dress is called the Velvet Canyon and is from Al-Fahim’s Earthy collection.

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Al-Fahim took to Instagram to share pictures of the star championing her design with her 498,000 followers.

“Anya Taylor-Joy (looks) stunning in our Velvet Canyon,” she wrote on her Stories. 

For her jewelry, Anya chose a glitzy diamond necklace embellished with red rhinestones, accompanied by matching earrings and a ring. She completed the ensemble with a statement chunky silver bracelet.

She styled her blonde hair with a side part, which cascaded in soft waves past her shoulders.

Taylor-Joy was accompanied by a star-studded lineup of celebrities, including Olivia Wilde, Emily Blunt, Gabrielle Union, Quinta Brunson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Reese Witherspoon, Laura Harrier, Suki Waterhouse and Aimee Song, among others.

Wilde flaunted a black figure-hugging dress with a plunging neckline, Blunt was radiant in a white sequin dress, Union opted for a custom-made Staud dress in black and white, Brunson wore a black velvet midi-gown from Roland Mouret and Huntington-Whiteley chose a white Carolina Herrera dress.

Al-Fahim is an Abu Dhabi-based designer known for her elegant and ethereal aesthetic, often featuring intricate embellishments, delicate fabrics and flattering silhouettes. Her creations combine femininity and sophistication, blending traditional craftsmanship with modern sensibilities.

Seen on red carpets, premieres and high-profile events worldwide, Al-Fahim’s creations have captured the attention of international celebrities including Rihanna and Jennifer Lopez.

Al-Fahim has also previously teamed up with US luxury handbag designer Tyler Ellis on a limited-edition capsule collection in 2022.


REVIEW: Sofia Boutella’s heroic efforts can’t save ‘Rebel Moon — Part Two’

Updated 26 April 2024
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REVIEW: Sofia Boutella’s heroic efforts can’t save ‘Rebel Moon — Part Two’

DUBAI: “Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire” drew scathing reviews (our writer described it as perhaps “the most discombobulating collection of mismatched sci-fi tropes ever committed to film”). “Part Two: The Scargiver” simply adds to that legacy.

The story: Former Imperium soldier Kora and the surviving band of ragtag warriors she’s recruited return to the moon of Veldt — home to simple farming folk in danger of being blown to bits by the mighty Imperium for failing to supply the unreasonable grain quota demanded of them. With just a few days before the deadline, Kora and her band must train the villagers to fight (and harvest the grain in just three days to provide a bargaining chip). What Kora doesn’t know is that Admiral Noble, the bad guy she ‘killed,’ is still alive. And bent on vengeance.

Before the enemy arrives, the warriors tell their life stories in a trust-building exercise — one of the clunkiest pieces of exposition ever written. There are slow-mo shots of the harvest gathering and a brief interlude to show that Kora and farmer Gunnar are very much in love.

Then, thankfully, we’re into the battle(s). Here, at least, director Zack Snyder doesn’t disappoint, even giving an original twist to the ‘spaceship plummeting from the sky’ trope by staging a showdown between Kora, Gunnar and Admiral Noble on a floor that becomes increasingly vertical. Below them, the villagers fight heroically against odds very much stacked against them, even with the help of Nemesis and her two flaming definitely-not-lightsabers.  

The well-constructed battle scenes, though, aren’t enough. Not even with a cast fighting as heroically as the villagers to salvage something. Sofia Boutella, as Kora, emerges with most credit, proving herself a convincing action hero who deserves better than this material to work with (spoiler alert: perhaps even material that allows the heroine to kill the bad guy herself, without the intervention of her boyfriend).

Yes, no one’s sitting down to watch an “epic space opera” in the expectation of thought-provoking dialogue, but “Rebel Moon” is like the result of forcing a seven-year-old to watch all things “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” in random order, then asking them to write down what happened. The best thing to say about “The Scargiver” is that it finishes — but even that comfort is tainted by Snyder’s cynical setting up of a potential part three. Possibly because that seven-year-old fell asleep before writing an actual ending.