Editor: Rana Qaisar   
Founding Editor: Shafqat Munir   

‘Art is in the Blood’: Farhat and Waseem prove it right at ‘Lok Mela’ 

07 Junie 2011 10:41:55 nm

‘Art is in the Blood’:

Farhat and Waseem prove it right at ‘Lok Mela’

Some people have an enormous relationship with environment, are inspired from nature and become artists as professionals. However, there are some people who have the art in their blood and bones.

 

Farhat Bibi a wood carving artist, 32, is a living example of the later category. Farhat and Waseem are the proud children of late Muhammad Ashraf who was a wood artist. She makes different designs on wood pieces like wood plates, tables, and Jharoka mirrors according to the customers’ demand. She has been working since her childhood in this field of handcrafts. It is her ancestor’s profession so she had great enthusiasm from the age of her school days and has been working at home in Dera Ismail Khan but now she is mesmerizing the art lovers at Lok Mela. She knows about all kind of wood designs that magnetize and hold customers’ attention towards her work.

Farat introduces all kinds of traditional, un-orthodox, and even latest designs on timber and lumber in different ways -- in the form of plates, tables, and wood carvings. “Wood art has lasting appeal and is truly an attachment with nature as well,” she opined.

While talking to INFN Farat Bibi said, “I feel affection for this work as my whole life is spent in this occupation. I have a great attachment with this work and consider it as my beloved, because it has been my ancestor’s profession for nearly 4 hundred years. I chose this profession by my own free will and I would love dying with it,” Farat said with great confidence.

Farat uses so many tools in her work like raychi, chisels, handsaws, knives, utility blades, scale, scrapers and snips that she has bought from Dera Ismail Khan, especially for handcrafts. “My tools are my best friends, part of my life and I feel imperfect without them. I feel so glad when making traditional designs and showing my inner curiosity to others,” she shared while blushing.

She further said, “Everybody cannot adopt this art; you need to have a strong connection with the wood art, carving and the art itself. And the love for this art should be in your blood.”

Her brother, Muhammad Waseem who accompanies her in the ‘Lok Mela’ has won a Pride of Performance, SAARC Award.