The story of Iqra the calligrapher inspired by ‘Alif’

A young woman from Peshawar, Iqra Waheed, was waiting for customers at an exhibition organized in Peshawar.

Iqra Waheed told Independent Urdu that although he had deposited 10,000 rupees for setting up a stall, he said that such exhibitions have many other benefits and according to him, during the two-day exhibition, many customers visited his art. Pars are highly appreciated.

Iqra said that there was a turning point in her life when she decided to go to Lahore.

Hostel arrangement and depositing Rs 50,000 for a 15-day course at the National College of Arts was also a tough test for this middle-class family.

Iqra narrated this story to Independent Urdu during an exhibition organized by Women Chamber of Industry and Trade and other business associations in Peshawar.

The objective of this exhibition was to benefit the small scale industries and highlight their work in the market.

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Iqra says that she was in the fourth grade when she started calligraphy, but then she did not even know the ‘A’ of this art.

“Much later, a Pakistani drama ‘Alif’ became an inspiration for me. During my BS Fine Arts at Benazir University, my teacher Fatima helped me untie the closed knots of my mind regarding calligraphy and I decided to do a course from Lahore NCA.’

Khatat Iqra said that it was very difficult for him to go to Lahore because it was not easy to convince and convince his parents.

‘You can’t go away, you can’t be alone, you could hear it, but there was no pressure to give up this art.

‘I did just a 15-day course from NCA where I got to learn some tricks, while the grip on calligraphy came from practicing it for the past several years. At NCA, Mr. Arif Alvi taught me the tricks after which I created the present works of art using a combination of gold, blue and black colors on canvas.’

Iqra lamented that there is no art academy for the youth of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, due to which the talent of the women especially of this province is lost because every woman cannot go far from her area.