Women have produced art throughout history. However, their work goes unnoticed particularly in a conservative society such as that in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Almas Khanum, a Pashtun girl and a talented painter from Malakand region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, won the first place in an international painting competition with this picture of Khamkuddozai, which is called religious tolerance.
The first prize and award of this competition had received by Malala Yousafzai's father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, on behalf of Almas Khanum, at the British Parliament building on Thursday at 7 pm London time.
Almas had addressed the British Parliament and fine arts fans online at the event.
Almas Khanum was born in an artistic family that hails from a small village named Aryankot Dargai in Malakand Division Malakand's Dargi region. She graduated from school this year and is pursuing higher education in the field of fine arts.
The young artist has lived through the worst form of repression in her native land during Mullah Fazalullah’s rule, which is best known for public beatings and thunderous radio sermons — in which the mercurial cleric denounced polio vaccinations, amongst other progressive elements.
Khanam, a female embroidery artist and sculptor, uses simple cotton threads to weave portraits of popular figures on a fine mesh strainer. So far, the young artist has created delicate portraits of Abdul Sattar Edhi, Bacha Khan,Manzoor Pashteen and even Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai who was shot during the peak of insurgency in Swat.
Afghanistan's previous regime Ambassador Atif Mashal Saib presented her with a letter of appreciation from the Embassy of Afghanistan and the government appreciated her artistic endeavours.
In an interview with The Friday Times Almas said that art and artists are the representatives of love and peace. If an artist wants, he/she can do a lot to spread love and peace through their artistic skills.
” I make portraits of our Pashtun National Heroes on a sieve for which I had won the prestigious award . So I dedicate this award to those Heroes of Pashtun Nation” she added