DUBAI: The UAE-based Pakistani artist shares the story behind the painting that won him third place in the figurative category at this year’s International ARC Salon Competition
On a hot June afternoon, I spotted a baby pigeon fainting from heat and exhaustion outside the art center where I teach in Al-Ain. I fed her some fruit and water and left when I felt she was recovering. In the evening, when I came back for another class, Sekabembe Muzamiro, the Ugandan security guard at the center, was lovingly tending to the bird. She was hopping around. On a whim, I decided to paint them together.
“The Bird Catcher” is by Ali Hammad. (Supplied)
Sekabembe put the bird in a box and brought her to the art studio. She was now full of energy, grunting and fluttering around the room. It took Sekabembe some time to get his hands on her to model for me. In that moment, I felt he was now the bird catcher, a hero who had helped rescue the bird.
The title also had another symbolic meaning for me. In a larger sense, aren’t all we human beings bird catchers, looking for opportunities? Grabbing one is like catching a bird. Art mirrors life, and through “The Bird Catcher” I wanted to tell everyone to not waste those opportunities that life gives us, but to go catch them and make the most of them.
I have always been influenced by the great master painters — Rembrandt, Solomon J Solomon, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, and many others. In “The Bird Catcher,” I tried to capture an essence of these great artists by painting a storm building up in the backdrop as Sekabembe holds the bird.
It took me more than a month to finish the painting, made using oil on linen. Sekabembe would walk into the studio every day to see the creation of his portrait. It was a moment of great pride for him, and for me. Painting him was a small gesture to celebrate an unsung hero like him.
