Recently, someone acknowledged you on social media as “the mentor, the other mother and a confidant”. I am writing to endorse these titles and to share some insights into the ways of teaching, seeing and thinking that we learnt from you. For years, you received the freshmen at NCA in sculpture class, where one gets to touch base with the very core of one’s existence and reality – crafting with clay. These classes involve problem-solving activities, experimenting and exploring textures, shapes and techniques which are essentially meditative to the extent of self-discovery and channeling one’s energy with the universe.
Working with clay connects us to our primal roots – shaping earth, creating something from nothing and tapping into that tactile joy is super therapeutic. It is also restorative with a loud lesson of endurance. And I am not only referring to the trade and trick of handling clay but surviving, performing and passing the test of perseverance and creativity in your course. Yours was indeed one of the strictest and most disciplined classes. We practically lived the idea of coming from the clay and returning to it within the six-hour session each week. Allow me to acknowledge that the determination and stamina gained then are still serving many of us to navigate life’s challenges.
However, the other challenge, countering the mindset about sculpture and idolatry, is consistent. I wonder how you steered your path amid all these fabricated ideals during Zia’s regime and, borrowing Mrs Hashmi’s words, his draconian laws. Iconoclasm in Islam is a complex topic. In pre-Islamic Arabia, idolatry was prevalent and Islam’s stance against it was part of its monotheistic reform. The Kaaba, originally a site of idols, was purified by the Prophet (PBUH), reflecting this shift. The Quran doesn’t explicitly ban images but hadiths are more direct about avoiding representations of living beings. The rejection of images wasn’t unique to Islam; it existed in various forms across cultures and religions – Judaism, early Christianity and even Buddhism. Making statues and entrusting them with power are two different things.
Baked clay, aka terracotta, has been utilised by both ancient and contemporary artists. From utilitarian items to religious artifacts and artistic expressions, the cultural significance of terracotta reflects the deep connections between humans, their traditions and the earth. The Mother goddesses of Mehrgarh and the Warriors of Qin Shi Huang are impressive examples, but your simplified, stylised, often elongated figures that reveal human conditions and the ultimate absurdity of worldly situations remain my favourite.
The malleability of clay allows to work in an inventive way. Most works are case studies of human situations, presented through facial observations, with unnecessary details omitted and emotions represented in the purity of form. In prioritising abstraction, these figures often feature simplified shapes, rigid lines and minimal detail, reflecting primitive artistic tendencies. Primitive shapes are well-known for representing certain personality traits in art and psychological literature. Here, they serve to decode your intention and approach, which is fanciful and fictional in appeal. The elusive and surreal characteristic owes itself to the presence of bizarre animals – a wide-eyed fish, an eerie cat or a dazed partridge, while experimental glazing adds colour and drama to the final product.
This approach emphasises patterns and shapes where uniformity and symmetry were favoured over individualism and realism. The same goes for the large horse reliefs that occupy the wall of NCA, facing the fountain. Some also proudly and effortlessly adorn the airport lounge. A similar repetitive, rhythmic mark-making activity resurfaces in more recent pen-on-paper drawings. The space and distance (from reality and otherwise) evident in terracotta works diminish in these smaller, more negotiated sketches and landscapes. Thank you for all the thrust to observe, experience, experiment and the respect for clay – modelling, pinching, patting, moulding and casting are not just creative processes but some of the truthful lessons for life as well.
Bano
Feb 2026