by MUHAMMAD UMAR, YUMNA RAFI, AND ADEEL AHMED
The painting of the Obamas by Parvez Bhatti which received instant recognition. IMAGE/Yumna Rafi
We advanced into Lyari with feelings of apprehension and excitement to meet the artist who had been recently discovered for his impeccable portrait of the Obamas. As our vehicle drove deeper into the neighbourhood, the environs began to appear unfamiliar and archaic, but none more so than your average time-worn Saddar street.
A few more turns into narrow roads, and skirting around road-carts or otherwise preoccupied looking pedestrians later, we finally reached the ‘studio’ of Parvez Bhatti.
Parvez, 60, came into media spotlight when his painting of the Obamas was photographed by a student photographer at ‘Humans of Lyari’ (HOL) — a venture of the Society for International Education and the Karachi Youth Initiative, and put up on their Facebook page after which it instantly went viral.
The once unheard of aesthete had an artistic den; a few creaky benches stained with paint, a stool with a piece of glass which served the purpose of a palette and a number of men appeared into sight as narrow alleyways (and a goats’ enclosure) led us into his sunlit studio.
Dawn for more