Shahida Ahmed, a British visual artist and educator, moved an audience with her work and inspiring words recently while attending ‘Best My Guest,’ a programme regularly organised by Pakistan Arts Society – Qatar (PASQ).
Her accomplishments and philosophy of life instantly grabbed the attention of the people present in the audience – particularly women.
The programme was held at the auditorium of Pak Shamaa School where Pakistani community expatriates, particularly women, were present in large numbers. PASQ regularly organises the interactive programme by inviting different talented guest speakers both from Qatar and Pakistan.
Shahida is a British citizen and is originally from Pakistan. She is currently associated with Virginia Commonwealth University Qatar. She has also received recognition as the first female Muslim British ceramic artist in the UK.
Her work is a modern concept of merging traditional Islamic arts into clay forms and sculpture. These works are in collections of Prince Charles, Downing Street, Foreign Commonwealth Office in London, Baroness Saeeda Warsi, and the British High Commission Karachi.
The event started with recitation of the Holy Qur’an. Nabila Kokab, Principal of PSS, greeted her with a floral bouquet. The principal appreciated PASQ for always inviting multi-talented people for their gathering. She said that interactive sessions with successful people bring source of motivation to the audience. She also praised the speaker for her success and variety of works. She said that such kind of interactive sessions always help both the staff and the students at her school.
In his welcome speech, Muhammad Abrar Hussain, President of PASQ, introduced the guest speaker and thanked Hafiz Junaid Amir Sial, community welfare attaché Pakistan embassy, who attended the event as a guest of honour. He said that the number of people present in the auditorium showed that how much they were interested in hearing from our guest speaker.
Speaking on the occasion, Hafiz Junaid said that he appreciated the efforts and ideas of PASQ. It is a good event providing an opportunity to interact with a successful person. The audience had learned a lot from the experiences of the artist. The embassy is planning to organise some community events in collaboration with PASQ.
The format of the programme was an interview with the guest. Aimen Zeb, a PASQ member, hosted the interactive session. She asked different questions from the guest and later audience members also asked Shahida’s opinion on different issues.
When asked how she got interested towards art, Shahida said that when she was a child, her parents used to tell her that she would become a doctor. However, she always had an inclination towards spirituality. One day, she was taken to a pottery class during winter. The moment she had clay in her hand, she thought that it was clay that the man was made of. She started playing with clay and started developing interest in ceramic making.
In response to a question about what was her motivation for art, Shahid said it was spirituality. Her sister used to tell stories that she would imagine in her mind. Shahida said that she never had dreams but one day she saw a mystical dance in her dream and thought that the dream was pushing her towards the art.
The artist added that her art works gave her immense satisfaction. She said that one of her work that is in cubicle structure with different patterns has the 99 names of Allah.
When asked as a working woman how she takes care of her house, Shahida said that she always kept her private and professional life separate. She said that women should learn how to manage both aspects of their lives. Sharing her personal experience, the artist said that the women should stand up against all kinds of domestic maltreatment. They should not put up with intolerable behaviour and respect their lives.
She added that once she refused to give one of her artworks to Prince Charles for free and asked him to pay if he wanted to have art piece. She urged the audience – especially women, to develop self-confidence. She asked the audience
not to force children follow a certain kind of field.
GROUP: From left, PSS principal Nabila Kokab, guest speaker Shahida Ahmed, president of PASQ Muhammad Abrar Hussain, patron M A Shahid, and general secretary Adeel Akbar.
