Ana Molka Ahmed
I am fond of this artist as she is from a mixed back ground herself and yet has made a huge impact on Pakistan breaking away some of those oppressive traditions associated towards Muslim/Pakistani women.
She has made a huge impact on one of my own roots where religion is held high. Through her work she explores holy scripture by creating paintings described in the Quran "The day of Resurrection - Qiyamat" - "The Hell (Jhahanum - Hell)" - "Heaven (Jannat - Heaven)" . They are tie in with how they relate to other holy books such as the bible. she has also done a piece called Nuclear which could reflect the great destruction resulting in the extensive loss of life in Germany to such a huge majority of the jewish population. This is associated to her own roots as her parents where Jewish. She moved to Pakistan while the second world war kicked off.
'Prof Anna Molka Ahmed (1917 - 1994) was a famous Pakistani artist and pioneer of fine arts in the newly born Pakistan in 1947. She was a professor of fine arts at the University of the Punjab in Lahore. She was among the pioneers of women artists in Pakistan and had been a long-time director and moving spirit behind the Fine Arts Department of the Punjab University, Lahore - the first institution that was opened to the women artists in Pakistan. "In fact she has been the facilitator of a movement that made the proactive role of women artists a possibility". writes Nilofur Farrukh (president of International Art Critics Association, Pakistan Section). It is because of trendsetters like her that the feminist art in Pakistan is gaining strength away from traditional gender discriminatory dominance. In fact these days we are witnessing a gradual dismantling of social and gender classifications. Well this has not been easy, since a lot of women had to struggle hard to bring women atop many a prestigious positions - above men, Ana Molka Ahmed is one such women.'
'She was born to Jewish parents, in London, UK in 1917. Her mother was Polish and father was a Russian. She studied painting, sculpture and design at St. Martin School of Arts, London. She converted to Islam at the age of 18 in 1935, before marrying Sheikh Ahmed, a would be Pakistani in October 1939. The couple moved to the Indian subcontinent in 1940-41 and settled in Lahore. Although, her marriage was over in 1951, but yet she lived in Pakistan with her two daughters. She was awarded Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, for her services in the field of fine arts education in the country. Professor Emeritus Anna Molka Ahmed set up a department, which has now become a center of excellence for Fine Arts in Pakistan. At the time of independence, there were only five or six Muslim students in the art department, and Anna Molka Ahmed went from one college to another seeking students for the arts department and thus was able to introduce art courses in the Punjab University. Her students became famous artists in the country and many of them are playing their role globally.'
' Beside painting, she was an avid gardener. She would wear her trade mark while tending the garden, cutting hedges in new and artistic pattern, and went on painting and gardening till the very last time until she was ordered by the doctors to stop because it was straining her health badly. Anna Molka also took to writing poetry in later part of her life. She breathed her last in 1994.'
"The day of Resurrection - Qiyamat"
"The Hell (Jhahanum)"
"Heaven (Jannat)"
Remembering Ana, Professor Dr. Saadat Saeed Urdu Department Ankara University Turkey writes, “She used to treat her subjects boldly. Her grand paintings contain sparks of her domineering and impressive personality. Her impressionistic technique blended with expressionistic tones and shades made her work unique. The suggestiveness of her knife was creative. She chose knife to paint in preference to smooth brushes and made her style so unique that the audience could do nothing but stand and wonder. The style originated by her was so unusual in its essence that art critics declared her work far better than the work done by most of her contemporary artists. Anna Molka's multi- cultural background made her viewpoint vast and liberal. Anna Molka used the media of drawing, painting, graphic arts, sculpture and design. She was known as an expert in the domain of still life, animal nature and figures. She used the media of water colour, gouache, fresco, tempera, oil, wax, mosaic to paint and produce unique portraits, still life, landscapes, figure compositions and animal paintings. She loved to paint solitude, loneliness, alienation, mannerism, sufferings and sadness in the perspective of urban landscape. Most of her paintings symbolize materialistic life around us. She painted poetry and wrote sceneries. Her colours were bright and strokes fascinating.”
"Nuclear Holocaust"
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