Floral art contest, fundraising show praised

LAHORE :A floral art competition under the banner of Pakistan Blooms 2020 — an event to celebrate heritage, culture and tourism with flowers was held on the second day of the three-day event here Monday.

The event’s first day was kicked off inside Delhi Gate on Sunday. The three-day event is being organised by the Lahore chapter of the Floral Arts Society of Pakistan (FASP) in collaboration with the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA), Parks & Horticulture Authority (PHA), Amateur Gardener's Club, Pakistan Horticulture Association and Lahore Gymkhana Gardening Club while the Jang Media Group is the media partner of the event.

On the second day, a floral art competition was held in the name of Nature into Art. Different classes under this competition included Rustic Treasures, Entwined, Assemblage (An Exhibit), Mystery in a cobwebbed window, Dream Catcher (A cascading exhibit) and Palette of Textures (Imposed Class).

Dignitaries, including foreign guests, designers, floral artists, flower designers and members from different chapters of FASP from across the country are attending Pakistan Blooms 2020. The second day event also included floral exhibition for the general public and critical analysis/informal discussion on floral art.

In the evening, a floral extravaganza fundraising dinner for the citizen foundation was also organised. Talking to The News, Adnan Jahangir, a Kathak Dancer who performed at the stage of the fundraising event said, the event presents the elements of nature, including Earth, Water, Air and Fire. Free style, folk and contemporary dance with composed and recorded tracks was shown on the stage. He said he started his career as a street performer and did various campaigns on public transport, child abuse, honour killing and other social issues. He said he learned Kathak from Guru Rajindra Gangani, an Indian Ustad. Adnan said he was an established choreographer and dance performer based in Lahore.

Adnan has performed in solo shows, group performances as well as at festivals that have taken place both within the country as well as in India, USA, UK, Italy, Turkey, Qatar and China. Talking about the ongoing event, he said it is the one of its kind event as it’s the first time artists mixed dance and music with floral art. The other main decorator of the fundraising show was Phubast Chesdmethee from Thailand. He said he was really surprised to see greenery and flowers in Lahore. He said he didn’t know that Lahore is such a beautiful city vis-à-vis gardens and flowers.

He said that he would be staying in Lahore for the next five days and would explore the city. He said he had designed many floral exhibitions across the world as well as one of the stages of Miss Universe contest, Bangkok, Thailand in 1992. In the end, audience at the fundraising show applauded the event and appreciated the performances as well as the decorations, lightings and cerography. The audience also participated in fundraising.