“One of the challenges and problems that we face in Gwadar is that art material and the required tools are not available here. We have to purchase them from Karachi,” says Hashim Usman, an emerging artist who is trying to promote painting in Gwadar. He has joined the Hashimi Academy, a platform to educate young artists, with the aim to groom them. He is working on voluntary basis to equip them with the ability to display their talent on canvas. When Hashim Usman started painting on canvas, there was no such academy for art in Gwadar and its surroundings. Yet he participated in painting contests at school level and won many awards as well. “My childhood love for paintings and colours has nurtured me to become an artist. Growing up, I had never thought that I would become a professional painter. But with the passage of time, I realised that there was an artist within me who was eager to express his feelings in the form of art,” Usman explained. Hashim’s work depicts the struggles of fisherfolks He had to travel to Quetta to learn professional painting and drawing, where he polished his skills at the Cultural Institute. Most of his work comprises oil paintings, watercolours and pencil sketches. Usman has tried to draw the attention towards social problems using his art of painting. When his pieces of art were displayed for the first time in 2009, his topic was the sea and the fishermen. ‘My childhood love for paintings and colours has nurtured me to become an artist. Growing up, I had never thought that I would become a professional painter. But with the passage of time, I realised that there was an artist within me who was eager to express his feelings in the form of art’ In 2011, his paintings created based on the theme of ‘Balochistan’s political, economic and social background’ were recognised by the University of Texas at Austin in America, which published his work in their annual journal South Asia. In 2013, Usman was awarded the prestigious Imam Daad Award for his excellence in arts. This painting displays traces of Arabian cultural influences He has also received a Special Award by Youth Affairs Department of Balochistan for excellence in arts. In spite of this, there is little recognition for arts and artists in Gwadar, Usman complains. “We do it for fun and joy as there is no tangible support from the government,” he adds. Due to lack of resources, his paintings have not made it to big cities. “The artists are a poor community and do not have enough resources to showcase their work in exhibitions in Quetta, Lahore or Karachi,” he says. The article originally appeared in PakVoices. The writer is a citizen journalist from Gwadar Published in Daily Times, August 3rd 2017.