Exploring Pakistan in 30 days
Back in January, I saw an artist’s work on the dribble, she was creating beautiful illustrations of her hometown. I was really inspired by her work. I looked for illustrations of Pakistan on the internet. But couldn’t find much except for some shutter stock images. Though there are a lot of potential designers in Pakistan working their ass off and building stunning designs still there is not much work that reflects the culture and true spirit of Pakistan. It is disappointing. It is our responsibility to bring this aspect to light.
So I picked up the idea and started creating simplified illustrations of Pakistan. I took a 30-day challenge and decided to create one illustration a day. I tried to keep the visual language as simple as possible. I am an admirer of minimalism and believe that simplicity preserves the true beauty of form. When I was about to start this challenge I was a bit nervous and many questions flooded my mind.
Would I going to complete this challenge? How would people going to react? Would my work be good enough?
But when I started posting it on social media daily, it got the great administration and turned out to be a gateway to many amazing opportunities.
At the start of this project, I had this clear purpose in my mind. I wanted to reveal beautiful architecture and rich culture of Pakistan to the world. There were lots of amazing places that even I didn’t know about. So this journey was not only unveiling Pakistan to the world but also to myself. I always lived with this belief that I know my country so well. But that was not the case.
Firstly, I started with many familiar places that I grew up hearing about, reading about, like Badshahi mosque, Shahi Qila, Minar-e-Pakistan. But soon I was out of places. I started my research on Pakistan and every day I found a new place & learned more about Pakistan.
Reflecting
It was a good learning experience. It helped me not only to understand the tool better but also admire the beautiful Mughal architectural forms of Pakistan. Our country shares a truly rich and diverse culture. It is worth praising!
On the other hand, I am saddened to see how poorly our country is portrayed out there, as religiously intolerant and morally corrupt. We as a nation have struggled with social and political upheavals for some time now.
But this does not stop us. Here’s where my hope lies as a Pakistani that things can change for the better. We just need to show people the bright side of Pakistan.
This was my little effort to contribute my part. Let me know what do you think about this. Follow me on Instagram to see my full project and sneak peeks of my latest project.
