{"id":442343,"date":"2025-09-18T17:29:58","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T12:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/?p=442343"},"modified":"2025-09-18T17:29:58","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T12:29:58","slug":"dr-humanizes-sex-workers-like-manto-but-through-paintings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/dr-humanizes-sex-workers-like-manto-but-through-paintings\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Humanizes Sex Workers Like Manto \u2013 But Through Paintings"},"content":{"rendered":"

The launch of the book \u201cMalka Aliya Laila: Paintings on Stories of Sex Workers in Pakistan\u201d at The Black Hole was an evening charged with emotion, art, and reflection. Organized by Gallery 6 in collaboration with the East-West Center Alumni Association \u2013 Islamabad Chapter, the event drew artists, academics, writers, and students to witness a rare convergence of public health, art, and the lived realities of marginalized women.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The program was moderated by senior journalist and Secretary General of EWCA-IC, Faiz Muhammad Paracha, who introduced the author by noting that \u201cDr. Arjumand Faisel has lived many lives in one.\u201d From starting as a journalist in class ten and becoming PTV\u2019s youngest compere at seventeen, to training as a medical doctor and later earning postgraduate degrees in public health from Pakistan and the USA, Faisel has led a remarkable professional life.<\/p>\n

Alongside this, his passion for art led him to establish Gallery 6 in 2008, now the largest private art gallery in Islamabad, and to found the Arjumand Painting Award, the country\u2019s leading biennial art prize.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It is this duality \u2014 health and art \u2014 that defines \u201cMalka Aliya Laila.\u201d Faiz Paracha reminded the audience how sex workers have been depicted in art worldwide: sometimes sympathetically, often through the male gaze. \u201cDr. Faisel\u2019s contribution is of a different order,\u201d he said. \u201cHe does not present sex workers as objects, but as human beings. Just as Manto humanized them through stories, Faisel has done so with paintings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leading art critic Cosima Brand delivered an emotional response, remarking: \u201cIt is with eyes brimming with tears that I contemplate this work. Very rarely does art speak so directly to the soul.<\/p>\n

Here is a man trained to collect data for the Ministry of Health but overwhelmed by human realities he could not capture with numbers. Every injustice, every defiant stare, every broken yet proud woman finds space in these works.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the genesis of the book, Dr. Faisel recalled his HIV\/AIDS research in the early 2000s: \u201cWhat I saw, heard, and felt was unbearable. These were not data points but human experiences etched into memory.\u201d Those stories later found expression on canvas. Using Expressionism, he translated pain, resilience, and dignity into works that go beyond likeness to capture inner truths.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The audience viewed a selection of these paintings in a multimedia presentation, followed by a discussion on the ethics of representing marginalized women and the emotional toll on the artist.<\/p>\n

By the evening\u2019s close, the consensus was clear: \u201cMalka Aliya Laila\u201d is more than a book. It is both an artistic and humanitarian statement \u2014 bridging medicine, research, and art to give voice and dignity to those too often silenced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The launch of the book \u201cMalka Aliya Laila: Paintings on Stories of Sex Workers in Pakistan\u201d at The Black Hole was an evening charged with emotion, art, and reflection. Organized by Gallery 6 in collaboration with the East-West Center Alumni Association \u2013 Islamabad Chapter, the event drew artists, academics, writers, and students to witness a rare convergence of public health, […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":442349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2494,1296,2525],"tags":[],"adace-sponsor":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-442343","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-art","8":"category-books","9":"category-event"},"wps_subtitle":"","img_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Book-Launch--364x205.jpg",364,205,true],"medium":["https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Book-Launch-.jpg",1280,720,false],"full":["https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Book-Launch-.jpg",1280,720,false]},"author_name":"Press Release","categories_name":["Art","Books","Event"],"title_text":"Dr. Humanizes Sex Workers Like Manto \u2013 But Through Paintings","related_stories":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts?filter&per_page=4&categories=2494,1296,2525&exclude=442343","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442343"},{"taxonomy":"adace-sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propakistani.pk\/lens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/adace-sponsor?post=442343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}