Undoing marginalisation

Born from a chance encounter in China, during an International Arts Celebration, the friendship between Charlene Campbell-Carey, director of the Rocky Mountain Ballet School (Missoula, Montana, USA), and Jamal Shah, President of the Islamabad Art Festival 2019 (IAF2019), has grown over the years. After the Ballet Beyond Borders (BBB) competition of last August in Los Angeles, Jamal invited Charlene to IAF2019.

Consequently, Charlene brought five of her dancers, her two assistants, plus a film documentarist, and a film/culture critic to Islamabad. With the 230 artists and dancers of IAF2019 coming from 39 countries, the 'Montana crew' shared talents, experiences, and stories.

From November 18 to November 29, these artists not only engaged in comparative 'show and tell', they are also brought the world to Islamabad.

For many among us, this was our first trip to Pakistan. Its ancient past, contemporary vitality, and future potentialities open up our own 'sense of present' in unforeseen ways.

Coming from the privileged West, whose nations are (more or less) mono-lingual, mono-cultural, and increasingly oblivious of their pasts, we have been struck by the cultural complexity and diversity of Pakistan; by its linguistic and ethnic plurality.

We were also surprised by the intense energy, creativity and intelligence of its people. We are amazed by the endurance, patience and resilience of all the persons we met, from poor and kind farmers to workers baking bricks under the sun; from the diligence of the people working in the service-industry to the calm attentiveness and patience of Lahore's shopkeepers.

In shops, factories, studios, people work and think as hard as anywhere else in the world. Artists and technicians seem as informed and connected as those in New York, London or Paris. Sometimes, their work ethics seem even a bit too extreme: the bustle and hustle of Pakistan's city-traffic made us wonder why Pakistanis are so impatient.

Instead of the dangers we were warned against in our home-countries, we met kindly curious people, asking us for selfies, inquiring about our whereabouts, or people eager to help-out and give advice. I have already told friends in Montana and France to come and experience Pakistan, to taste its marvellous food and visit its mosques, temples, forts and archaeological sites; breathe in the air of its spectacular mountains to the north and the fragrances of its land everywhere.

What the IAF is trying to accomplish is exemplary. By appealing to an 'Internationale' of artists, they are trying to undo decades of Pakistani marginalization due to the legacy of colonialism, the war on terror, a politically locked situation with its neighbour, India, and the contingencies of geopolitics, where Russia, China, and the US play a strange, solipsist chessboard game.

Pakistan has suffered a lot. As a new nation located in the middle of Asia (a huge strategic region of the world which will one day replace the West as the 'leading centre') Pakistan deserves better.

The arts seduce, heal, entertain or provoke us. Like the sciences which make us think the unthinkable, the arts push our limits, but in a humane way. They bridge abysses and tunnel under walls created by competition and inequalities, exacerbated differences and misunderstood otherness.

Jamal's vision wants to create a new 'Silk Road' of minds, hearts, and sensitivities. He and his crew want a society where painters, filmmakers, dancers, ceramists, print-makers etc will have voice and influence, and will be able to help scientists and politicians try to avoid the pitfalls of what the French call 'pensee unique' - a univocal, one-way-type-of-thinking which can only lead us to a cul-de-sac.

The writer is a former faculty member at the University of Montana, and a researcher.