Art and Visuality in Pakistan (Pottery Culture), submitted for a class assignment.

1. SYED TUAHA HUSSAIN
1615134 - BSMS 7A
THEORIES OF VISUAL CULTURE
SIR SHAHJEHAN SALEEM
Art and Visuality in Pakistan
Whenever we go to our grand parents we frequently come across “mitti kay bartan”
or earthen utensils for every day-to-day purposes we do not use them for in our
households anymore. It has gone plastic and thus very artificial. Before we even think of
attaching values to plastic utensils they either lose their shape or can be found on the floor
with toddlers playing football with it. Plastic utensils just cannot replace the essence and
the certain nostalgic feel and smell a clay pot holds. Be it Gullaq (money saving
container), mugs and jugs or pots for bird feed in the balcony no wonders our elders
preferred well-built and dense clay utensils over steel or plastic.
Our local Karachiite taste buds are also very aware of the taste specific taste of
‘hotel ki karahi’ and other local foods that are specifically cooked in karahi, a clay
cookware that give adds a distinguishable taste to our local foods that makes it
incomparable to the taste of a steel cookware.
Pottery or clay utensils, that once were a necessity due to the lack of other
possibilities and choices that a modern world has now, is now considered an art. It
requires steady and skilful hands of an artist to give the final shape to the decoration
pieces we use in our gardens and drawing rooms, detailed pots for flowers and plants can
be found in most if not every household in Pakistan. This form of art dates back to the time
of Indus Civilisation lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE. The locals of that civilisation not
only gave the form to the clay but also hand-painted them later in very vibrant colours from
the palette that we still to this date relate to Sindh and Sindhi art. This still continues till
date.

2. The local pottery artists who do not even consider themselves as artist but mere
‘labourers’ do not earn enough for the sweat and blood they put into this distinguished but
devalued art form. This is one of the art form that Pakistan is renowned for and this art that
once existed in every household, museum, government buildings, schools, stations is now
can usually be found in a confined space in some art exhibitions every once in a while.