Iqbal Hussain

In Pakistan, not men but a woman needs to posses qualities of a modest person in order to be acceptable in the society. The term ‘prostitute’ and ‘pleasure’ are known to be associated with women who lack the characteristics of an acceptable modest women. Few days back when I was sitting on a couch with a cup of tea I was thinking about the norms and values of our society. My thinking led me to the point where I thought about the prostitutes who go against the cultural and Islamic values taught in our country. Numerous questions came in my mind of why would one pop their bubble and step into a completely different world of dirt and disrespect. I questioned myself that when every individual has the right to live their life according to their will then why were they always pointed fingers at even if they chose it as their profession? Were they ever seen with respect or did anyone ever try to understand them before accusing them to be a curse to the nation?

With these uncountable questions flipping through of my mind I tried to find out about the famous ‘Diamond Market’ (Heera Mandi), which is the infamous ‘Red light district’ in the city Lahore, Pakistan. This is the place where women are seen dressed up seductively; they are nothing else but objects for men. These women give signals to the men by their gestures in exchange of notes after which pleasure is promised on the entrance of the curtain. A kind of Pakistani belly-dance called the ‘Mujra’ is performed by these women followed by satisfying the filthy clients. My point of the research was to see if someone ever tried to know what these women felt while going through this turmoil.

This was a pretty controversial topic to be talked upon in a Muslim based country as the people of this country want to avoid topics which are intolerable. However, one bold famous artist of Pakistan, Iqbal Hussain, son of a prostitute himself, was the one who took up the challenge. Most of his paintings depicted women of the red light area where he lived with these prostitutes and felt their sorrows buried deep inside their souls. Through his paintings he decided to give recognition to the real life of these women and portray it in front of the selfish self centered society who failed to believe in realism. His paintings reflect his thoughts of the models that he used for the portraits.

When I read about the background of the artist in search of the history of his paintings of women, I found out some very interesting facts. He, since his childhood faced situations which a normal child wouldn’t go through. I was inclined to know why he had such sympathy with the women of this socially unacceptable community. I couldn’t find any other solid reason except for his family background and environment. He grew up seeing his sister and mother dance and sing which was the mean for their earning. Due to his background he faced problems in school and in his normal life because nobody wanted to be friends with him. He spent a lot of his time wandering in the streets and sleeping on the road at nights. He knew exactly the reasons for his difficulties in life but he felt helpless when he thought of changing the mind sets of the hypocrites of the society who disrespected him and his family. He therefore thought of painting his heart out instead of trying to change the fixed thoughts of the society.

Psychological responses could be the reason for Iqbal to be termed as a controversial artist because the women he painted did not depict the perceived image of the audience. The society and audience doesn’t want to be seen or known to have such a class existing in our country. Iqbal Hussain was a victim to many attacks because of his controversial art but he managed to stand beside the women of the red light district as a protector to the women of that area. He tried to serve them as much as he could because he could relate to that community.