Artist/ Children's writer and founder/ director of Funkor Childart Center.

Education and Training May 1991, M.Sc. Communication Design. Pratt Institute, New York Dec, 1986, M.Sc. International Relations Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad Work Experience:  To promote Children’s art, founded Funkor Child Art Centre, 2001, in Islamabad, one of the few centers in Pakistan, exclusively dedicated to the promotion of children’s art and book reading. Funkor uses the medium of arts to extend children’s outlook and awareness of the concepts of environment and heritage protection, human rights, equality, tolerance and peace. Website: www.fauziaminallah.com

Award and Other Information

• Winner of All Pakistan Newspaper Society Award 1985 – 86 for best editorial cartoonist. She is first award winning female political cartoonist of Pakistan.
• Winner of National Book Foundation Award 2003 for promotion of children’s literature.
• The team of "Sadako's Prayer Project', a book written and illustrated by Fauzia Minallah was the winner of Hiroshima Citizen's Award in 2007.
• Short listed for the Bremen Peace award 2009. One of the nominated projects and organizations, which are exemplary in their work for peace, justice and integrity of creation. For democratizing art education and making it accessible to kids from low-income families, so that they too can playfully discover their own creativity.
• Iqra - Read (A Prayer for the Girls of Afghanistan and Pakistan) was winner of third prize at the My Hero Project short film festival 2009. This film promotes the education of the girl child in Afghanistan and Pakistan through Mural Art.
• Winner of 'Special Hero award' at the My Hero Project short film festival 2009.
• Revived a dying craft ‘Chitarkari’ or slate engraving, found in the cemeteries of Gangar mountain range, Hazara, N.W.F.P. 

Worked as Technical Advisor:

• Art Contest " Young People for a Tolerant and Peaceful Society" organised by the British High Commission/ Center for Civic Education. More than 500 students including 90 students from religious seminaries (madaris) participated in the program in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta and Mirpur.
• Art Project 'Performing Democracy' organised by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Islamabad. 17 students from 5 art institutes of Lahore, Peshawar and Rawal Pindi participated.
• Art Workshops organised for The Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education, In connection with the International Children’s Day 2004 and 2005, generated art activities in Private/ Government Schools,  Schools for special children as well as working children, in Islamabad and Rawal Pindi nearly 600 children participated.
• Art Workshop organised for the UNESCO, Islamabad,  in the School for Afghan Refugee Children I-11 Islamabad, and the Mural Painting activity organised by Karavan Pakistan at the Lahore Fort 2004.
• Launch of Montage Pakistan for British Council,  in Islamabad and Karachi where approximately 400 children participated.

Papers

'Connecting Children with Multicultural Roots of Islamabad', Asian Regional Cooperation Conference Heritage Management, Conservation, Education and Tourism organised bythe Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage in Delhi, 2008
'Raising Awareness about the Natural and Cultural Heritge of Islamabad' , National Training Session on the Role of Civil Society Institutions and the Media in Raising Awareness about the Cultural Specifities and Cultural diversity, Lahore, 2008.
'Natural and Cultural Heritage of Islamabad' International Conference on Buddhism of Pakistan a source of regional Cooperation, Taxila Istitute of Asian Civilisations and Ministry of Culture, 2007
 ‘Lost Clay Traditions of Saidpur”  seminar ASNA International Clay Triennial. Karachi 2007

Worked as Communication Design Consultant for:

UNICEF, ESRA/USAID,  The Ministry of Environment. The Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education,  ActionAid, FAO, AKRSP. National Aids Programme.

During the consultancies produced educational materials for children and promotional kits i.e posters, brochures, flash cards, games for children on subjects ranging from Health and Hygiene, Early Childhood care, documentation of children working in the brick kilns of Peshawar and carpet industry in Quetta to Environment Protection

Art Residency: 

Exhibitions

Papers:

'Connecting Children with Multicultural Roots of Islamabad', Asian Regional Cooperation Conference Heritage Management, Conservation, Education and Tourism organised bythe Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage in Delhi, 2008

'Raising Awareness about the Natural and Cultural Heritge of Islamabad' , National Training Session on the Role of Civil Society Institutions and the Media in Raising Awareness about the Cultural Specifities and Cultural diversity, Lahore, 2008.

'Natural and Cultural Heritage of Islamabad' International Conference on Buddhism of Pakistan a source of regional Cooperation, Taxila Istitute of Asian Civilisations and Ministry of Culture, 2007

 ‘Lost Clay Traditions of Saidpur”  seminar ASNA International Clay Triennial. Karachi 2007

In the Press:

Preserving the past   

Rina Saeed Khan views a unique exhibition of slate engravings      

Fauzia Aziz Minallah is an artist with a mission. She is trying to promote and preserve an ancient art that is unique in many ways, not least because it was extinct until Fauzia started reviving it in the 90s.

 For centuries, in the small villages of the Gangar Mountains in the Hazara district of the Frontier, slate engravings were used exclusively to decorate tombstones. The slate would be excavated from quarries high up in these mountains, and sold to craftsman in the villages. The slate engravers would then painstakingly engrave the smoother slabs of slate with different symbols and geometric patterns. It is not easy to excavate a smooth block of slate, let alone chisel intricate patterns upon it. With the introduction of hardier materials like cement and marble in the 60s, the use of slate started dying out. Soon slate engravers had turned to other professions like masonry and carpentry.

Fauzia, whose ancestral family belongs to this district, grew up with the images of these delicately engraved tombstones seared onto her subconscious. ‘‘We would always visit my mother’s village for Eid,’’ recalls Fauzia. ‘‘I just fell in love with the slate engraving.’’ Fauzia, who has done her M.Sc in Communication Design from the Pratt Institute in NY, was soon photographing the tombstones in the cemeteries outside the village and making rubbings of the images engraved upon them so that they could be preserved. She decided to learn the art of slate engraving herself, and traced out three engravers who had turned to other occupations. She then decided to open up a small gallery in Islamabad from where she could commission work and build up a market for the engravings.

Today, Fauzia, along with the others-Said Rehman, Aziz ur Rehman and Mohammad IIyas-are reviving this ancient art. Fauzia supervises the entire operation-buying slate from the quarries, transporting it to the craftsman in the village and then bringing the engravings to Islamabad where she has set up the ‘‘Gangar’’ Gallery. The slate engravings-which include Fauzia’s contemporary designs along with the more traditional tombstone designs that have been replicated by the craftsmen-were recently exhibited at the Alliance Francaise in Lahore .

 The engravings were not only aesthetically pleasing, but they exuded a timelessness that comes from the use of slate. The texture of slate is unlike any other-the metal grey surface reveals lighter shades when chiseled or scratched and different depths can be created. Viewed from a distance, the finely engraved images take on an enigmatic, classic quality. While Fauzia’s images of the woman she encountered during her visits to the region are a worthy, contemporary tribute to this traditional art, what fascinated me were the images that appeared on the ‘‘replica’’ tombstones. One engraving display the image of a rifle-the man for whom the tombstone had been made must have been a warrior. Another tombstone featured a mosque-no doubt a pious man deserved that image; yet another showed a teapot-a symbol of the deceased’s generosity [tea in the region is a luxury].

The Gangar Mountain range might be a poor and rugged region. But these slate engravings reveal a rich and spiritual culture. Thanks to Fauzia’s efforts, one tradition of its ancient culture has been given a new lease of life.

Friday Times, February 6-12 1997

‘Chitarkari’ from graveyards into homes

In a world filled with cliche, redundancy and repetition, it is getting progressively harder to carve one’s own niche.

Fauzia Aziz Minallah is one artist who has managed to achieve just that, she appears to stand alone in elevating and transforming the ancient craft of ‘chitarkari’ or slate engraving into a contemporary art medium. Her exhibition “Ethnic Portraits” which as second part also features the craft work of Said Rehman, Aziz-ur-Rehman and Mohammad Ilyas, opened at the Alliance Francaise, Saturday.

‘Chitarkari’ has been used to decorate tombs for centuries in the Gangar Mountains , Hazara, in the frontier province. Slate was used because of the plentiful quarries in the area. With the availability of ‘60’s coupled with the difficult process of slate excavation, the use of slate receded and the ancient craft started to die out.

In 1990, Fauzia started working with craftsmen in the Gangar area and tried to revive the craft by shifting the focus from the cemetery to interior design elements, such as tables, flower pots and wall hangings.

In ’92 she took the craft work to the Folk Heritage Festival in Islamabad to introduce it to a larger audience. And then, three years ago, she moved on to experimenting with artistic treatment of slate, which brings about this exhibition in Lahore .

Fauzia’s work etches itself into the feminine psyche. Two distinct modes of expression can be differentiated. In one style the emphasis is on shape and space, with the shades of the gray produced by the chisel dominant over the darker un- chiseled slate.

Compared to the second style, there is a deliberate attention to detail in the features and body of the subjects: the features are less prominent; there is an absence of jewellery and other decoration. In toto, there is a contemporary feel to this style; themes of pregnancy, a woman carrying a child on her back, a lady meeting her cold stone glare into yours, even a woman with a ‘garrha’ on her head with hair, clothes and body cascading down in waves of soothing symmetry. The subject addressed may be rural rather than urban, but they lack the sense of antiquity dominant in the second style that emerges at Fauzia’s exhibition.

In this second style the dark gray dominates the light silver gray in the bodies of the subjects. Grate attention is paid to the hair as it is fashioned purposefully on the head, or falling down in diamond shaped links of the braided chain. The features of the face are very prominent, especially the nose and eyes. Eyes are often underlined with dotted semi circles, reminiscent of older versions of cosmetics. Tribal jewellery adorns the figures with all its layers, bulk and simple geometry. This has the effect of linking the centuries old craft with the depth of the traditions of its antiquity.

“These are memories of places I visited. They connect to antiquity because the Kalash culture goes way back. Most of them are contemporary rural women and the things about them that have touched me,” explained Fauzia in an interview with The News. Talking about how an MSc graduate in communication design from the Pratt Institute in New York , happens to be innovating the ancient craft, she says “I am using this particular medium because I was exposed to it in my childhood. In the Eid holidays we would often travel up north. I spent so much time in cemeteries between Tarbela and Haripur because I was fascinated by ‘chitarkari”’. For this reason she has been trying to revive the craft as well as elevating it into the realm of art. 

Fauzia explained the difference between her art and the original craft, “the craft has two surfaces and the depth is rather shallow. As an artist I try to create layers, and there are often three or more surfaces with their different shades’’.

She also experiments more with the different shadings she can achieve, as opposed to the craft which features mostly the dark and the light shade with little in-between.

As already mentioned, Fauzia has also been on a mission to bring ‘chitarkari’ craftsman to the fore, even despite the fact that because of it her art is sometimes treated as craft work. But her mission remains strong. And, it is in this effort that as the second part of the exhibit the work of three craftsmen is featured.

This part of the exhibition reveals that ‘chitarkari’ can successfully move away from the macabre surroundings of graveyards  make a place for itself inside homes, if given enough exposure. Tiles, rectangular and gravestone shaped tablets feature. Said Rehman, Mohd Ilyas and Aziz-ur-Rehman bring to the fore elements of Islamic geometry and design in terms of arabesques. Two pieces have representations of Mughal castles, and a few other pieces offer symbols of the craftsmen’s tools, like a saw, chisel and divider.

The exhibition features truly unique work, with the art achieving a penetration of themes, emotions, the contemporary and the antiquated, while the craft work is tasteful, different and skillfully finished. The exhibition will continue till the 1st of February.

The News International, Sunday January 26 1997

Reviving Chitarkari

By applying this cemetery art to objects of everyday use, the artist has infused a new life into this dying craft

By Salwat Ali Dawn Magazine

A few minutes with Fauzia Minallah is enough to convince you that she really cares. Her enthusiasm is so enterprising young artist has single handedly rescued the dying craft of chitarkari from oblivion.

Chitarkari or slate engraving has been used to decorate tombs for centuries in the Gangar Mountain Region of N.W.F.P, where slate is found in abundance. Fauzia hails from Sirikot, a village near Haripur and since childhood has been fascinated with the cemetery engravings. An MSc is Communication Design from Pratt Institute in New York not only broadened her vision but also enhanced her appreciation of this craft. Her personal resume is chequered  with an All Pakistan Newspaper Award for ‘Best Cartoonist’ in 1986 while she was the editorial cartoonist for the Muslim, a stint as design consultant  for UNICEF and had solo shows in Peshawar and Islamabad. However, for the last seven years she is totally involved in reviving chitarkari, not just as a craft, but also as an art from. 

Slate excavation is a difficult and laborious process and large lots yield only a few good slabs with the proper leaden tones and just the right surface texture for chiseling. Now a days cement is easier and cheaper to use and the affluent opt marble, both of which is  easily available. Slate in no longer popular and with it chitarkari has also died a quiet death.

Said Rehman from village Kundi is now a full time iron-smith and has not worked on slate for the last fifteen years. Muhammad Ilyas, now a carpenter, from Belgram has only childhood recollection of his father carving intricate patterns on slate.

These two artisans were discovered by Fauzia when she began scouring the Haripur region for former slate engravers. She has rehabilitated Said Rehman to his former status as master engraver and others like Huzoor Hussain and Said Muhammad are joining in, and trainees especially Said Rehman’s grandson, are showing great promise.

With simple tools like a chisel, hummer and parkar (divider) intricate geometrical patterns, arabesques, polygon diamonds, lotus and sunflower leaves and petals are carved with precision and exactness. Headstones in old cemeteries reveal widespread use of carving symbols and figurines indicate the sex, status, and calling of the person buried there. A religious person will often have an elaborate prayer mat and a fancy lota (for ablutions) engraved on his headstone. A young warrior’s grave will have a rifle chiseled at the bottom, farmer or peasant; neckbands, earrings and bracelets adorn female graves, some even have strange fertility symbols on them.

In order to appreciate this geometrical interlacement of patterns and the symbolic language underneath, it is not enough to simply look at the pieces head on, they must be ‘read’ by letting the eye follow the intertwining designs and feel the history engraved on these stones. The repeat patterns and motifs carry Greek, Mongol and Islamic influences. The symbols throw interesting light on the beliefs, culture, material resources and other salient features of the society. Some graves show rougher and simpler motifs reflecting on the modest means of the population.

By applying this cemetery art to objects of utility like table tops, pot holders, decorative tile work etc. Fauzia has infused new life into this. She personally buys slate from the quarries, transports it to the craftsmen and them brings back the engravings to her ‘Ganger Gallery’ in Islamabad . In 1992 she took the craft to the folk Heritage Festival to introduce it to a larger audience and exhibits in Lahore , Peshawar and Islamabad have generated enough awareness for orders to trickle in.

Fauzia is not just promoting chitarkari but is doing it herself also. Having learnt the traditional techniques, she combines it with her knowledge of design, drawing and composition to produce ethnic portraits of women. She borrows heavily from folk art but her expression is contemporary. Portraits are carved in outlines only and the weaving rhythmic patterns are incorporated in the composition making it a pleasing blend of the old and the new. She even manages to introduce tonal values of ash white, slate grey and land by making linear or pock marked textural variations on the surface. A somewhat experimental art from, Fauzia has applied the same technique to chipboard also, where she gouges the surface with a knife and sets the flaky surface with thick layers of oil paint. The metallic finish gives it an antique look. This innovative streak is bound to make her grow as an artist. 

V.M. Art gallery is hosting this unique exhibition curator Riffat Alvi has sensibly divided it into two distinct sections of art and craft. Tombstone replicas, decorative tiles and border pieces dominate the craft section, and Fauzia Minallah’s experimental work is featured in the second section.

Unlike marble or granite which can be polished to a smooth gleaming sheen, slate is dull, grey, rough and very raw. As such it will generate selective appeal only, but this curious mix of the traditional and the contemporary is bound to fascinate  viewers, especially creative art students and collectors of art objects.
Dawn Magazine Sunday, June 8 1997  

Future People

Woman of Many Colours
(By Naziha Syed Ali)

Fauzya Minallah defies categorization.  She is many things rolled into one – design consultant, artist, photographer, writer, and – rare for a woman in Pakistan – a cartoonist as well.   Drawing cartoons came naturally to Fauzya.  “While I was a student of international relations at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, I used to entertain family and friends by drawing cartoons of them or of my teachers,” says Fauzya.  “But it was when I joined The Muslim in 1986 as an editorial cartoonist that I really enjoyed this art.”  That same year, Fauzya won the APNS best political cartoonist award.  Her winning entry lampooned Zia’s version of democracy with each member of his Majlis-i-Shoora shown as an identical copy of the general himself.

Now, more than 15 years later, the September 11 attacks in the US have inspired Fauzya to write, illustrate and produce a book for children.  Titled Amai’s Wish , it encourages compassion and empathy for other’s suffering.  Says Fauzya, “I heard an eight-year-old boy say, ‘Good, it (the destruction of the twin towers) happened to the Americans.  Look what they are doing to the poor Afghan children.’  I was very concerned about these comments and I feel that we all have to be very concerned about the messages our children, with their young, enquiring minds, are absorbing from their surroundings... messages of hatred, war and enmity.”  The book is planned by Fauzya as the first of many more under the umbrella of Peace Books alongwith partners Akmal Minallah, Samar Minallah and Ghazala Minallah.  Fauzya’s aim in this venture is clear.  “I want to publish books for a brown Muslim child.  This world is not going to be easy for them.”

Fauzya’s desire to reach out to children has been obvious even in her career as a cartoonist.  She contributed a cartoon strip for children in The Nation , covering varied topics on culture, on environment, and also social issues, such as life through the eyes of a child carpet weaver.

In her more recent political cartoons, Fauzya has taken caustic potshots at the ‘war against terror’.  She voices strong feelings against the suffering being brought to bear on the Afghan people as a result of the US airstrikes on their country.  “They are being punished for what a small group of lunatics have done,” she says. “The Afghan children are as important as American children and not mere ‘collateral damage’.”

Fauzya’s political views are based on her pacifist, anti-war sentiments.  She describes herself as a “very depressed Pakistani” when the entire nation, it seemed, was celebrating Pakistan’s nuclear tests in 1999.  “The ugly tin structures of missiles supposedly beautifying our cities, for me as an artist, are a shameful reflection of our society.”  Although she is herself not inclined towards playing an active role in politics, her mother was for a short time a member of Junejo’s party, and was one of the few with the moral courage to speak out against the Pakistan army’s atrocities in Bangladesh.  Meanwhile, Fauzya’s grandfather was one of the three judges who believed that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto should not be hanged.  Having the courage of their convictions is obviously a family trait.

Fauzya, aside from her freelance pursuits as a cartoonist and writer, works as a design consultant for UNICEF.  She has also revived the craft of ‘slate engraving’ – typical to her village in the Frontier – which was traditionally used to beautify tombs.  Using her innovative, eclectic approach, Fauzya  has encouraged the craftsmen to use engraved slate as table tops and wall hangings and other items.  “My own work is greatly inspired by this craft and I use slate engraving as a medium.  My work on board is also carved out first before painting it,” she says.  Truly one woman who doesn’t believe in borders, whether of colour, creed, or art

Newsline, January, 2002

From Japanese press:

A prayer for peace By Huma Khawar (August 20, 2006)

Independence Day in the capital passed by quietly this year. Unlike every year, the josh and walwala to celebrate August 14 was missing. Whether it was because of the situation in Lebanon, or the rains in the country, one cannot tell. In fact taking advantage of the long weekend, people left the capital for a short out-of-the-city break.

However, events at government level and by government departments were organized throughout the week. There were day-long activities at Lok Virsa, Quaid’s portrait and photograph exhibition at the National Gallery and a National Book Fair at the Pakistan Academy of Letters to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Independence. There were stalls set up by different organizations and publishers from various cities of Pakistan and books were sold at special discount. Being the holiday season, many students attended the fair. Seeing youngsters at book fairs now seem to be a rare sight as it is believed that they have given up on reading and that books have probably been replaced by internet.

Things change with time, but that doesn’t mean people don’t read any more. Soft copies have taken the place of hard, so has other things but we need not be depressed. It is true that the Tea House culture is no more but if you come to think of it, it was because houses in those days could not house so many people. They needed to go out at a public place. Now-a-days our drawing rooms are big enough to house 30 to 40 people to have a literary sitting. You need to change with time.

Chairman Pakistan Academy of Letters, Iftikhar Arif said that the Academy is also planning to start a Jumma Bazar of new and old books. Iftikhar Arif revealed, “The culture of second hand books displayed and sold on the streets during holidays used to be a permanent feature in many cities. But, unfortunately, this custom is fast disappearing. This Jumma Bazar of books is an attempt to revive this old practice which attracts people and provides them an opportunity to buy books at affordable prices.

“If you provide people with the opportunity and the exposure to books, they buy them,” he observed.

Amongst various other programs held at the Academy was the Kamal-i-Fun Award which was given to Dr Nabi Bakhsh Balouch, an eminent scholar.

Author of numerous books written in English, Urdu, Persian and Sindhi, Dr Balouch was the eighth recipient of this prestigious Literary Award, given by the Academy in recognition to his lifelong contribution in the field of research and linguistics. Awards for best prose and poems and a bibliography of Pakistani Literature were also announced.

REMEMBERING NAGASAKI AND HIROSHIMA

A peace ceremony, recalling the horrors of the atomic bombings on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima more than 60 years ago, was held at the SAFMA Media Centre. The event jointly organized by Funkor Art and Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy, to commemorate Hiroshima Day, was attended by both children and adults to express their resentment at an incident that caused destruction of great magnitude on August 6 and 9, 1945.

A story book for children, Sadako Ki Dua, based on a true story about an 11-year-old Japanese girl who was only two years old when she experienced the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, was launched that the day. “The book is about an event in history where a whole city was devastated but people of Hiroshima only rebuilt their city but made it into the centre of peace,” explains Fauzia Aziz Minallah, written and illustrator.

The story which was also read out to the children, begins with Amai, the magical dove in Fauzia’s story books, who takes the two kids, Seema and Ali, on a tour of the world. Looking down the children see the earth and its beautiful creatures.

“When there is love and laughter, and when people take care of the earth, then the world is a beautiful place and there is peace,” Amai explains. She then takes the children to another part of the world where they see ‘the terrible engines of evil’ – missiles, fire and smoke, — the atomic weapons that are made by men and used for destruction.

“Thousands of men, women and little children have been killed and maimed by these terrible weapons,” Amai then relates the story of a little girl named Sadako, an innocent victim who later died of cancer caused by the radiation.

“The people of Hiroshima endured the pain and suffering of an atomic bombing and turned it into love. They did not waste their energy and money on developing weapons to take revenge for the destruction of their city. They turned their city into a centre of peace. They pray and work for a world without nuclear weapons, a world where innocent children like Sadako are protected from devastating wars,” was Amai message.

Today human beings have developed atomic bombs many times more powerful than the A-bomb and thousands of innocent children have been killed and maimed with these terrible weapons.

The book, with an introduction written by Kishwar Naheed, is dedicated to the survivors of the devastating earthquake of October 8, with the message that “they may they have Sadako’s strength to rebuild their devastated lives”.

According to Fauzia, “The book shows the will of mankind to rebuild life anew after every catastrophe. Sadako was an innocent victim of war who wanted a world where children are protected from devastating wars.”

Children gathered at the SAFMA Media Centre called for an immediate end to Israeli aggression on Lebanon and stockpiling of nuclear weapons in the world, in general, and in South Asian Subcontinent in particular.

Hiroshima remembered 
Call to end atomic bombs from world
Zubair Qureshi

Islamabad—Children of various schools joined peace activists Sunday at SAFMA media centre and prayed for the innocent victims of Hiroshima city who lost their lives in atomic bomb attack by the US on 06 August 1945.

Founder of Funkor Child Art Centre, Fauzia Minallah and representatives of Pak-India People’s Forum for Peace & Democracy on the occasion screened a documentary film on the survivors of the Hiroshima tragedy and launched a book “Sadako ki Dua” by Ms Minallah.
Children presented the story of Aogiri tree the first tree to have grown in the sands of Hiroshima forty years after the dropping of the bomb. It is also called the Mother Tree.

They also presented “One Peace” a song on the occasion calling upon the world to end its arsenals of weapon and work for collective peace of the world. Ashfaque Saleem Mirza media advisor to SAFMA media centre appreciated the children’s performance saying it would promote awareness in the youth as well as the old regarding the dangers of the atomic bomb.

Basmah Hayat and Rabab two young students of International Grammar School & College appealed to the advanced communities and countries of the world to do away with all the bombs—nuclear bombs, cluster bombs, chemical, hand bombs and bombs of all types and kinds. “We share the pains and sufferings of the children of Hiroshima and hope that our elders would adopt a saner path and save us from the bomb”.
The documentary, “Children of the Bomb” showed dozens of the children who suffered from the bomb and turned into “living corpses”.
Niromi is the name of such a child who is now over 60 but it is because of the radiation effects of the bomb that her mental growth is the same that of a two-year old girl. She is dependent on her father for her day to day living. The documentary showed many “children of the bombs” whose sufferings knew no bounds.

They suffered multiple blood diseases, leukemia, cancer and other liver and skin diseases. The documentary featured interviews of a number of the survivors who narrated horrifying and chilling account of the bomb and its after effects.

The movie showed that several days after the blast, medical staff began to recognize the first symptoms of radiation sickness among the survivors. Soon the death rate actually began to climb again as patients who had appeared to be recovering began suffering from this strange new illness.
Deaths from radiation sickness did not peak until three to four weeks after the attacks and did not taper off until seven to eight weeks after the attack. Long-range health dangers associated with radiation exposure, such as an increased danger of cancer, would linger for the rest of the victims’ lives, as would the psychological effects of the attack.

No one will ever know for certain how many died as a result of the attack on Hiroshima. Some 70,000 people probably died as a result of initial blast, heat, and radiation effects.

The book “Sadako ki Dua” attracted visiting children. the story of a young Japanese girl named Sadako Sasaki born in 1943. Sadako was two years old when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. As she grew up, Sadako was a strong, courageous and athletic girl. In 1955, at age 11, while practicing for a big race, she became dizzy and fell to the ground. Sadako was diagnosed with Leukemia, “the atom bomb” disease.

Sadako’s best friend told her of an old Japanese legend which said that anyone who folds a thousand paper cranes would be granted a wish.
Sadako hoped that the gods would grant her a wish to get well so that she could run again. She started to work on the paper cranes and completed over 1000 before dying on October 25, 1955 at the age of twelve. According to the writer Ms Minallah, the point is that she never gave up. She continued to make paper cranes until she died.

Inspired by her courage and strength, Sadako’s friends and classmates put together a book of her letters and published it.
They began to dream of building a monument to Sadako and all of the children killed by the atom bomb. Young people all over Japan helped collect money for the project.

Being an artist and illustrator of the children’s stories books, Ms Minallah has included a number sketches in her book. She has used simple easy Urdu to convey her message to as many children as possible.

Pakistani children’s artwork to be displayed in Hiroshima
Remembering the horrors of atom bomb destruction
Schezee Zaidi

ISLAMABAD: Selected art works of Pakistani children are to be displayed in Hiroshima, Japan, for the 60th commemoration of Hiroshima on August 6. About 60 artworks and 10 murals are travelling to Japan to be a part of an exhibition at Hiroshima City International House, organised by Asian Network for Trust.

The exhibition is a tribute to millions of human beings who rise above their religion, race and colour to raise their voice against terror and injustice. The exhibition is homage to all those innocent children who were killed by Terrorists and also to all those beautiful children like Sadako, who perished without a trace in terrifying Wars.

Speaking to The News, Fauzia Minallah, Director of Funkor Child Art Centre and facilitator of the children art work, who is also accompanying the exhibits from Pakistan, said children from different schools expressed their impressions through artwork after watching a film ‘Mother’s Prayer’ and’ On Paper Crane-Tomoko’s Adventure’ and listening to the story of Sadako.

Fauzia said the participation of children’s artwork from Pakistan for the 60th commemoration of Hiroshima is a matter of great pride. She said as Hiroshima is the site where history’s most terrible bomb was dropped on ‘innocent civilians’, it is important for the sake of the younger generation that the truth about Hiroshima should be kept alive and the story of Sadako must be told to children.

All the artwork is an outcome of children listening to the story of Sadako. Sadako is a symbol of thousands of children who are the innocent victims of conflicts. She was only two when she experienced horror and pain never imagined before by human beings, the explosion of atomic bomb. Sadako’s story touched the hearts of Pakistani children too. Image of the single plane dropping a single bomb that unleashed ‘Living Hell’ on innocent civilians terrified them. A majority of them found the image of the "Children’s Monument of Peace" most endearing.

The artwork to be displayed represents children from different strata of society in Pakistan. For example, from elite private schools, slum schools, Afghan refugee camps, minority community, school for working children as well as school for special children. For these little artists, walls are growing higher and barriers thicker. Colour and religion have become a deciding factor about them, being a Muslim and brown in today’s world, these children feel tremendous pressure and compulsion to prove that they are as normal as any child in any part of the world. This artwork of children from Pakistan consists of the colours, lines and strokes of children who are as innocent as any child in the world.

Children art work selected from Pakistan comprises: ‘Children’s Peace Monument’ by Sara Khan 12, Zehra Khan 13; ‘War & Peace’ by children of 5-8-years, inspired by a poem on peace by renowned poetess, Kishwar Naheed; ‘Light of Peace is Spreading Towards the World of War’, by children 6 - 10 years; ‘Stop War!, by children 9 - 13 years; ‘Road Connecting a Church to a Mosque’ by Christian children ages 10-12 years from the slums of Islamabad; ‘A Beautiful World’, by Afghan Refugee Boys ages 8-14 from the Refugee Camp of Islamabad; ‘Friendship’ Mural by Afghan refugee girls ages 11-14 years from the refugee camp of Islamabad; ‘Friendship’ Mural by children of Community School Shanigar, Chitral, ages 12 - 13 years; ‘Friendship’ Mural by children of Shalamar School for Hearing Impaired, ages 10 - 13 years; ‘Friendship’ Mural by children of Rumbur Primary School, Kalash, NWFP, ages 8 - 11 years.

New York City

A Concert of Hope for New York City

August 5, 2003
"A Concert of Hope for New York City" was an evening of inspiration to commemorate selfless acts of courage, acts that serve as symbols of hope for our world. It was a concert to celebrate the greatness of the human spirit. This important New York City event took place on August 5, 2003 at the Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Center, New York City, as a contribution to the observance of the United Nations International Day of Peace. The program was sponsored as a free community service by the Brahma Kumaris Meditation Center and Gallery, 306 Fifth Avenue, 2nd floor, the Brahma Kumaris Center serving New York City and vicinity. Supporting partners for the concert were The Foundation for Universal Sacred Music, Friends of the Institute of Noetic Sciences (FIONS), and The Hartley Film Foundation.

Every year, on the International Day of Peace: September 21, people throughout the world gather to reiterate the sentiment, "Long live absolute world peace," to remember the victims of conflict, and to rededicate themselves to the age-old quest of building a safer and more just world.
The program opened with a story of Hope about New York City by Elliott Forrest, Master of Ceremonies. Elliott is a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster. He is the host of "Breakfast with the Arts," seen every Sunday morning on the A&E Television Network, and is currently heard on WQXR Radio in New York City.

Elliott also told the story of "Peace and Religious Harmony," the mural that enhanced the stage, created by artist Fauzia Aziz Minallah, together with children from Katchi Abadi, Pakistan. The mural is part of The Art Miles Mural Project, which began in 1997 with the objective of creating global harmony through art. "Peace and Religious Harmony," depicts a woman and a man reaching out for a bright world where children of different religions are holding hands in harmony. Different colored pieces of cloth have been stitched together to form this mural, since acrylic paint and canvas are very expensive in Pakistan. The mural, measuring 18 feet by 5 feet, will be a part of 12 miles of murals from different countries of the world, to be joined in New York in 2004 as a contribution to the International Decade of a Culture of Peace, sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The powerful sound of the group Bliss, from Oxford, England, was the musical headliner. The Concert of Hope marked their New York City debut in their first US tour. Bliss performed in nine east coast cities, and the entire tour served as a contribution to the observance of the International Day of Peace.

Formed by Andy Blissett and Lucinda Drayton, Bliss moved out of the world of pop music when they discovered meditation, and gradually a new sound was born that blends light folk/pop with inspirational music. With Andrew, Lucinda has also written and produced four albums of music for meditation. The lyrics are from Lucinda's personal experiences. Robert O. Smith is on guitar and Jonathan Hughes plays the cello. Bliss performs around the world in a variety of community settings, such as prisons and schools, linking spirituality with the world. The songs of hope performed for this concert moved the hearts of the audience. Web site: www.blissfulmusic.com

The program also featured a dance performance by Amy Marshall and Chad Levy from The Amy Marshall Dance Company (AMDC) AMDC is establishing itself as one of the most exciting new modern dance companies. In their first piece, Amy and Chad were accompanied by Andrew Blisset performing his lovely instrumental, "Grace". For the encore, they swept the audience away with their dance to the inspiring 'Om Shanti'.
One of the voices of hope for the program was Dawn Johnston-Britton, Acting Chief of the Public Inquiries Unit at the UN. Her inspiring talk explained the meaning of the International Day of Peace, and how it came to be.

Hope was the theme of a talk by Brahma Kumaris Mohini Panjabi, who was later accompanied by Andy Blisset and Bliss for a meditation commentary. Sister Mohini has been a spiritual educator with the Brahma Kumaris for more than 40 years. She is presently the coordinator of activities nationally in the USA and regionally in the Americas and Caribbean. She is also the representative of the Brahma Kumaris at the United Nations. As a spiritual leader, Sister Mohini shares knowledge and spiritual principles regarding the connection between self-realization and global peace and harmony.

Everyone was invited to join in a reflection on Hope, by responding silently to the following questions: Of the many things I am doing, what is it that reflects my deepest sense of hope? If I had one wish to manifest this hope, what would that be?

Tsunami Relief

We at Funkor gave donations to a local school, Khaldunia High, who were active in collecting funds for relief efforts.

Painting Workshops

During the summer vacations I painted a mural on multi-cultural harmony with children in Drosh, Chitral. Like several painting workshops I have held with children, this was also the very first time that the children had experienced the joy of painting. Children were told about different people of the world and how it will be a better world if we understand our differences and learn to respect other cultures and religions.

School Murals

For ESRA Project in Federal Government Girls Middle Model School in Chak Shahzad, I designed 2 murals: "Friends" and "Seasons".
"Friends" Mural
Friends is inspirational as well as educational, it depicts a girl and a boy from different regions of Pakistan holding Pakistani flags in their hands. Each couple is connected to each other by a rainbow. Girls of class 7 and 8 worked on the friendship mural for 3 days for 2 hours each. Since this was the first experience for these girls, to help them draw better 2 children of not more than seven years stood against the wall holding their hands, their outlines was drawn by older girls. For the faces children were given a cut-out shape of a face for them to trace the outline. For different regional dresses they referred to a Pakistani dress-up doll book that I have produced. In the process children learned how children from different provinces of Pakistan dress. The friendship wall measures 120ft x 5ft. When the painting was finished I asked children about the images they saw on the walls. These are some of the comments I got from them:

• they are children from different provinces of Pakistan
• they are Child-Friendly (this school is adopted by UNICEF as a child friendly school, but the existing images were not very child friendly)
• Children are holding Pakistan's flag

I asked them whether the images on the wall were saying something to them? What was the message they get when they see them?

• They are happy
• We are one
• They are holding hands because they are friends

When the painting was finished I asked a group of class 1 children if the pictures made them happy. They said yes. There were similar comments from class 5 children.
"Seasons" Mural
Seasons mural is thematic educational, it depicts the changing of seasons. It was designed by myself and approved by ESRA beforehand. To help children draw trees they were given a cut-out shape of the trunk and branches. During this 5 day mural-making activity for children, I was assisted by Safia Inayat and Shireen Ikramullah Khan. Safia helped the children with paints while Shireen, a young National College of Art painting student, drew images for them. The measurement of this mural is 200ft x 5 ft. All the images of seasons are related to the syllabus of the children.
The children were asked what are the things that remind them of spring, and they said "butterflies, flowers, children flying kites", etc. This is why we have these images for spring.

All the figures are from Pakistan and there is special care given to be gender sensitive, that girls are as important as boys. Children of classes 5 and 6 painted these images and the final touches were made by girls of class 7.
One week of painting was an enriching experience for the children. They feel very confident that they were able to work at such a big scale. The wall was already painted by ESRA as directed by the artist in 2 colours: blue for the sky and green for the ground. The paints used were water-based weather shield paints of ICI Dulux Master Pallette. The cost of all the paint used by children for the whole 300ft plus wall was Rs 7000/ - a very affordable cost for each school where children don't have arts as a subject, to celebrate a painting week where children take an active role in decorating their school.
Fauzia Aziz MinAllah, Funkor Child Art Centre

November 17, 2002
AUTHOR: Championing peace: Fauzia Aziz Minallah

By Huma Khawar

February 12, 2006
Tree lovers out to stop mass murder

By Jonaid Iqbal