LAHORE: Bachelor of Fine Arts thesis degree show opened on Tuesday at Punjab University’s Old Campus.

Seventeen students showcased their work in the field of sculpture, painting and print making.

Head of Department of Fine Arts Naila Amir talking to The Nation said the department dealt with painting, print making and sculpture. “I am glad my students through their work have tried to highlight the issues which are often neglected in the society and have developed their own style and statement in their artworks,” Naila said.

Syeda Mehwish Shahid, whose work was displayed at the degree show said, “My painting is a symbolic representation of the egocentric and selfish nature of human beings these days. The collective image of the fish signifies and demotes of the ruthlessness and the selfish nature of the might. Same is the case with this Siamese Betta fish. It feeds on the weaker ones of its own kinds. It lives with them and eat them when it no longer finds them useful or in time of need,” she said.

Another student Zunaira Sultan said, “My work is a series of events that depict our lives. The stages everyone goes through and how they change us forever. How we redeem ourselves from the evil living with us,” she said.

Qural Al Ain Tahir who showcased sculpture in her thesis show said, “Usually what I see in my dreams doesn’t belong to the real world and my work is to make these dreams look like real. I want to provoke the feeling of eerie in the viewer through my experiential space, there are some unusual forms of floating in the space,” she said.

Saba Tanveer said, “My paintings represent the fact that considering the front ignorance of ‘The other side’ is a social constructed phenomenon that we should look upon once. Both sides should and must be given equal importance,” Saba said.

The sculpture of Zubia Ejaz was based on the memorable time of her old house where she spent her entire childhood. She said that a memory may be psychological mechanism awakened at certain moments to protest against your past. “Sometimes in your life you want to recollect your memories but since you can’t go back to your past it remains embedded in your mind forever. Since I moved in a new house where the things are modern I badly miss the veranda of my old home. In my work I have recreated things that have witnessed all the things that I did when I was little.

Aun Raza highlighted the importance of the sacrificial animals. “My paintings clarify the Sunnat of Hazrat Ibrahim (AS) which we Muslims celebrate on every 10th of Zil Haj,” he said.