Decorated With New Colours Of Innovation, Truck Art Gaining Popularity

Shakila Jalil

Islamabad: If you have ever travelled to South Asia, especially Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, you will surely see beautiful trucks decorated with colourful carvings roaming the highways. These beautiful trucks are not only a form of cultural expression, but they also play a role in promoting culture and traditions.

The interest of foreign tourists also gave life to this art

Truck art has always been a hallmark of Pakistan which attracts not only domestic but also foreign tourists. The origin of Pakistani truck art can be traced back to the 1920s, when Bradford trucks imported from Britain appeared on the country’s roads. They were equipped with large wooden arches above the truck bed. The entire cockpit, with decorative bumpers and wooden panels, is equipped with decorative arches, known as the Taj.

In the 1940s, when trucks began to deliver goods over long distances, each company designed a logo so that illiterate people would know who owned the truck. It also played a role in raising the awareness of the people as well as the company’s popularity. These logos were decorated in different ways, so they can be called the origin of truck art. These trucks are moving art galleries on the roads of Pakistan.

Trucks began to feature hand-painted floral patterns, poems, and even portraits of artists and politicians, but at one time the artist whose image appeared on the truck was considered more famous. The images of Attaullah Khan Esakhelvi and Ayub Khan have been prominent in truck art for a long time.

The beautiful mountains of Pakistan were also a part of truck art. Some owners even wrote poetry and verses on the trucks. Usually, this poetry seems to represent the emotions and feelings of the truck drivers, while some people like to paint horses, lions, or beautiful birds. This handiwork on trucks, however laborious and popular, is surprising. Somehow this art could not gain acceptance among art lovers, nor was it recognised as art, but with the passage of time, truck art came out of the bodies of trucks and started appearing in new colours of innovation.

Truck art is no longer limited to trucks, but it is also seen in the form of art on rickshaws, buses, including cups, plates, lanterns, decorative items and furniture.

Truck art is now limited to trucks only. No longer, but various decoration pieces, including rickshaws and buses, such as cups, plates, lanterns, and other decorative items and furniture, have also started to be seen; thus, truck art has now also acquired the status of commercial art, but its buyers are only the rich. The interest of foreign tourists has given life to this art once again, especially in the foreign embassies in Pakistan, where the demand for this art is high.

Innovation in Truck Art

Truck Artist Muhammad Ejaz Mughal talks about the innovation of truck art that the credit for introducing truck art on decorative items in Rawalpindi goes to his late father Haji Habibur Rehman. While uncovering the wrinkles of the past, Ejaz said that in 1955–56, my father accepted the discipleship of four friends; these were the four people who died in this region in 1952.

The origin of truck art are two brothers, Yasin Ustad and Azam Ustad, were painters; their third friend, Bhaiya Budhu, used to do landscape work; similarly, their fourth friend, RafiqUstad, used to write. During that period, the body of the truck used to be very difficult; work was done in the light of a lantern. Later, my father was interested in bringing innovation to truck art, so he started putting flowers and leaves on the truck along with the logo, told Ejaz. Friends started adding more colours, and thus the beauty of the truck art increased.

Muhammad Ejaz said, “When we participated in the exhibition at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) for the first time, people kept yelling at us that we had brought a tin can, but father Sahib said encouragingly, there will come a time when people will appreciate this work.” Haji Rehman used to say, “It will not be me, but the name of truck art will be there.”

“My father brought truck art to handicraft and now to different foreign embassies. We are also getting work orders from Khans, which is also promoting this art along with earning money. So far, we have participated in many exhibitions. Our art is liked by tourists from abroad, but Pakistanis are less interested,” added Truck Artist.

Declining Trend of Truck Art

The art and craft village used to play an important role in promoting the work of artisans but now the space has been vacated to display the artisans’ work. Ejaz Mughal also told that people wait for fairs to get their work recognised; truck art is declining on trucks, but decorative items are gaining momentum. Due to low income, the new generation is not being transferred. If this situation remains, like the era of calligraphy is over, sculpture is dying, and truck art will also become a part of the past.

Arbaz, who has been working on decorative items related to truck art since the age of 11, is cutting decorative items to decorate trucks. A trucking venture provides income for twenty to twenty-five workers. It takes two to three weeks to create a peacock, tiger, leopard, or other shapes and drawings. Generally, the daily salary of a painter is 1500 rupees, while the daily salary of his assistant is 300 to 400 rupees. But with the passage of time, the work has started decreasing.

Adam has been involved in the work of truck art since the age of 7, and now he has four children, but he does not want to bring children into this work because, according to him, there is no saving in this work anymore.

Regarding truck art, Punjab Council of the Arts Director Waqar Ahmad stated that our truck art is loved all over the world. To begin with, the popularity of Pakistan’s truck art can be estimated from the fact that our truck is lying in the British Museum. The development of truck art is the need of the hour. It used to be thought that it was only a hobby of craftsmen, but with the passage of time, there was innovation in truck art.

 The message of love, peace and friendship can also be conveyed through truck art, said Punjab Council of the Arts Director Waqar Ahmed.

Regular truck art furniture is being made in Lahore, and a lot of work is being done on the development of truck art in Karachi, from lanterns to small items now. Souvenir boards with handmade truck designs are very popular; they also play an important role in the promotion of our culture and are also welcomed by guests.

All these positive things about truck art are in their place but the expert craftsman making the truck art is financially troubled. Hopefully, it will improve with time and find a place in small businesses so that the workers and the craftsman are also prosperous.

Waqar Ahmed further stated that decorating trucks and vehicles is part of our culture if it can be used for any purpose. Nothing is better than the idea. “The message of love, peace, and friendship can also be conveyed through truck art, and the Rawalpindi Arts Council will try to play a serious role in promoting employment opportunities for artists through truck art,” Director Ahmad added.

Photo Credit: Shazia Mehboob