Tactile Drawing
Having found no information on the internet about her beutiful dream project Funkor, I contacted Fauzia and asked her about the story and philosophy behind her idea of a child art center. She sent me the following as her reply.
Funkor is made up of an urdu word fun meaning art and kor a pushtu word meaning house, or in other words an art house specifically to promote art among children and through art promoting concepts of Peace, Tolerance, Heritage and Enviroment Protection and human rights among children. We organize workshops and events for children with different NGO’s and Govt departments, and have done a lot of art workshops in Katchi Abadis Afghan Refugee camps etc this is a very entertaining event for them. Recently we organized an event to encourage two sons of a slate engraver, one 11 yr old and the other 10, who gave a special demonstration of engraving slate, the objective was to encourage them and show them that their father’s craft is appreciated, and also to promote crafts among children from a class that is alienated from our own culture. We do a lot of mural making, recycle paper making with children as well as production of books etc.
Recently I had my third book published for children, ‘Sadako’s Prayer’ in collaboration with a partner NGO in Hiroshima Asian Network of Trust, it is about an eleven year old atomic bomb victim who died of radiation sickness. It is about hope and reconstruction after immeasurable pain and devastation. It has been distributed free cost in Muzaffarabad and Bagh by ANT, these books have even been distributed in Palestine by ANT. I have three new books planned for children for next year where my cartoon character ‘Amai’ a magical bird made of light who turns into a shooting star and takes children on different tours of the world will take them to Lahore Fort, Mohenjo Daro and Taxila, I also have a Pakistani Paper Doll book planned, and a book of photographs for the young about the Natural and Cultural Heritage of Islamabad.
Promoting crafts has been a passion as an individual and not as an NGO. I belong to Hazara and have been instrumental with my mother’s help in promoting ‘Chitarkari’ or slate engraving which was exclusively used for the beautification of tombs but with the introduction of cement and marble the demand for slate or chitarkari diminished, I sat with the few remaining craftsmen and designed different household items for them, now after 11 years on they are on their own I have introduced them to Lok Virsa and different galleries and NGO’s such as SUNGI and Nomad, from where slate engraving is sold, and contributed an article on Slate engraving for Noorjehan Bilgrami’s book on traditional crafts of Pakistan to promote it, and will promote it wherever and whenever I can.
These days I am creating awareness about some of the lost clay traditions of Saidpur village.
I am passionately enjoying my class of tactile drawing with visually impaired children at Al Maktoom a govt institute for visually impaired children. It is one of the most enriching experiences for me and I hope it is for the children too. I got special silicon and a plastic sheets from a friend, an art teacher Elke Zollistche and Mr Bildt the owner of an art Gallery for children in Munich . When a child draws with a ball pen on this special sheet the line rises up and h/she can feel the line. It is also very heartening to see that a govt institution is helping some very underprivileged children for example these 2 sisters and a brother who are all visually impared, they have lost their father and their mother supports them by making paper envelopes and lives in a katchi abadi of Pindi, for them a place like this is a haven..