KARACHI: Muhammad Irshad whitewashed a wall in a densely populated, low-income neighborhood in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi last week with a solution made of lime and water and then got to work painting an election promotion in vibrant colors.
While past elections were a lucrative season for painters, walk chalkers and poster artists like 48-year-old Irshad, the advent of digital printing has left him worried about the future amid a lackluster polling season ahead of general elections scheduled for Feb. 8.
These days, even with elections less than three weeks away, Irshad often sits idle for hours at his small shop called Naushad Painter in Karachi’s Orangi Town.
“In the past, we had a lot of work, and we would rule this field,” he told Arab News as he dipped his paintbrush in a tub of red paint.
“We didn’t have much time, but today, we don’t have that much work. Nowadays, if there is work, we do it, otherwise, we just sit free.”
For Irshad, who has been painting walls for the last 35 years, elections meant a surge in demand for his craft, long months painting walls and filling orders for banners and increased incomes.
“We used to write banners with hand, but now [digital] printing has come into banner-making,” he said.
“Panaflex [posters] has also arrived, and with the advancement of printing work, the work related to our banners has also come to an end.”
The earnings are also meagre now. Irshad said he earned between Rs150-250, less than a dollar, for painting a wall, out of which he also had to buy his materials.
“The materials required for this work have become expensive and we don’t save much from it,” Irshad said.
His elder son often accompanies him on jobs but he said he didn’t want to encourage him to pursue this line of work.
“My children come to the shop after the school and they see me working,” Irshad added. “But I don’t feel that they should be inclined to learn or pay attention to this work. I don’t think this work will exist in the future.”
But while Irshad grapples with a decline in the demand for his services, others like digital designer and printer Adnan Qaise are thriving.
“This is now the digital era, in which big panaflex hoardings are fixed, streamers are applied on poles, and what we call van-branding takes place,” Qaiser said as he finished designing the poster of a candidate from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), a popular party in the southern Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital.
“Because of this, [our] total work has shifted to panaflex and their [wall chalkers and painters] work has shrunk to almost 10 percent.”
Muhammad Waqas Anwar, 29, a client of Qaiser’s, said the digital era had transformed the election campaign process “for the better.”
“The digitalization and printing of promotional materials have made our lives easier,” Anwar said. “The cost has decreased, time is saved, and we have the liberty to choose from a variety of designs.”
