Etchings from the Past

It is hard to imagine graveyards as being a source of inspiration for any artist. Dark moss laden tombstones standing in stony silence as the sense of loss and grief resonates everywhere. But for artist Fauzia Aziz Minallah, the graveyard in her ancestral village Sirikot in the Gangar mountain region of Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier was a place of fascination. For centuries, the villages here have practiced the ancient craft of ‘Chitarkari’ or slate engravings to decorate tombs.

Fauzia remembers spending hours in graveyards watching slate engravers using a chisel, hammer and purkar (divider) to intricately engrave symbols and geometric patterns on tombstones with meticulous precision. The slate for the tombstones was excavated from the quarries in the mountains and then sold to craftsman in the villages. The difficult and laborious process yielded only a few good slabs with the right leaden tones and surface texture for chiseling. By the 1960s, demand for smoother slabs of slate gave way to newer and less expensive materials such as cement and marble. The engravers that once chiseled timeless pieces of art soon began to turn to other professions as Chitarkari found itself floundering at the edge of extinction.

The delicate slate engraving seemed almost confined to the solitude of the graveyards in the region to be forgotten with time. In 1990, Fauzia sought inspiration for her art by returning to her roots to work with craftsman in the Gangar area and reviving the ancient craft of slate engraving that she had grown up admiring. Initially, she started with simply photographing the tombstones outside the village and gradually took her initiative a step further by making rubbings of the images engraved in order to be able to preserve it. This was just the beginning as Fauzia enthusiastically searched out three engravers and began learning the craft herself. It was not long before Fauzia started commissioning work and building a market for these unique engravings by designing different interior décor pieces including table tops and wall-hangings.

However, Fauzia has been working hard in transforming the ancient craft of Chitarkari into a more contemporary art form. At times, this has led to her artistic endeavors being deemed as craft. But Fauzia remains resolute to bring ‘Chitarkari’ craftsmen to prominence and in turn be inspired to experiment with her own creativity to express her thoughts, feelings and anxieties. Her interpretation of this ancient craft blends the tradition of the past with contemporary art to create works that are both artistic and innovative.

The initiative made by Fauzia to popularize slate engraving and bring it into the realm of art has been complemented with the efforts of other artisans such as late Said Rehman, and Late Feroz din to successfully revive the traditions of Chitarkari. It is no longer significant whether one sees it as an art or craft, for this century old tradition has begun to be appreciated beyond the graveyards of villages to be admired in homes as interior design elements from tables to wall hangings.

Images©: Fauzia Aziz Minallah