↑ uk-pakistan truck art project
@theleapbd
about
There are more than 277,000 trucks on Pakistan’s roads. With their heavy loads, they crawl through the highways, valleys, and roads of Pakistan. The country depends on these trucks for most of the it’s transportation needs. But they also fill another need; a platform to parade the country’s culture. In Pakistan, most trucks are vivid showpieces of extravagant design and are decorated with poetry, ornate striping, fish, peacocks, flowers, politicians, movie stars, cricketers, and singers. They wobble along the highways with intricate wooden frames and metal work that glitters in the sun and bells and pom poms swinging from the undercarriage. For the region’s drivers and artists, they are more than conveyances. These trucks are statements, and at the very heart of Pakistani culture and identity.
This project is a collaboration between The Leap and Borderlands Creative People and Places programmes and uses creativity to amplify voices which are rarely heard and often ignored. It harnesses the connection that the UK's Pakistani diaspora have with truck art, bringing together artists from Bradford , Middlesbrough and Pakistan to co-create truck art installations that work across continents to produce art installations that are inspired by Pakistani truck art culture, albeit with a twist.
The Leap and Borderlands have commissioned Bradford based artists Zareena Bano , Aamta-Tul Waheed and Teessider Miki Rogers to co-create a major public art installation, in collaboration with expert truck art artists based in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The artwork will be created through the artists working with people from Bradford and Middlesbrough's communities to design their creative ideas in the style and heritage of Pakistani truck art.
The UK-Pakistan Truck Art project creates space for conversation and connections, centring the people and places of Bradford and Middlesbrough alongside the poetry, cultural references and heritage associated with people of Pakistani origin. The project also includes truck art workshops with children in collaboration with two orphanages in Rawalpindi, led by Pakistan based artists Zahrah Azhar.