Pakistan's Political Art On Trucks Hurt By Preference For Posters

Kaleidoscopic murals of flowers, Islamic motifs, calligraphy, snow-capped Himalayan peaks, local mosques, and popular figures are prime examples of Pakistani truck art, which is being supplanted by printed posters and banners.

Before the printing of posters and banners became widespread, painted trucks, such as this one owned and operated by 45-year-old Amjad Khan, were a popular way of spreading campaign messages to the masses.

As Pakistan stumbles from one crisis to the next, painters such as 40-year-old Khan Syed and his colleague Jamshaid Kha, 35, who paint out of a workshop in Peshawar, are seeing demand for their works fall.

The higher costs of materials are impacting the affordability of experienced painters such as 75-year-old Sawab Gul.

 

For young painters, such as 16-year-old Fayaz Khan, the future does not look as bright as the red paint he used for a recent truck painting.

 

With fewer paintings focused on political messaging, artists such as 19-year-old Hazrat Hussain are creating other works to earn a living, such as this one of a bird. 

Sohail Ghuri, a 40-year-old truck art painter who began his career at the age of 25, finishes up a painting of Imran Khan, the jailed former prime minister of Pakistan.

 

"I like young politicians, such as [former Foreign Minister] Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari,"  Ghuri said as he applies the final touches to a portrait of ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. "I would love to paint Bilawal but unfortunately I didn't get to paint any of his images on trucks so far."

For 35-year-old truck driver Muhammad Akram, the images displayed on his truck are personal.

"I do not have any interest in political people, I am a poor laborer. But it is my hobby to have pictures of (poet and philosopher) Muhammad Iqbal or President Ayub Khan (president of Pakistan in 1958–69). They were good people.”