Sindh artist handed over 'lost paintings' after social media outcry

Artist Saifi Soomro’s "lost" paintings were handed over to him by Senior Director KMC Sports and Culture Raza Abbas during a ceremony held at Karachi’s historical Frere Hall on Monday.

Soomro, who hails from Daharki in Ghotki district, had made those paintings in 2016 and sent them to the Frere Hall for an exhibition in 2017.

After the exhibition, Soomro asked for his paintings to be returned but he was told that his paintings had disappeared and could not be returned.

However, in an interesting turn of events after around seven years, a drama was recently aired on a private television showing a scene of the Frere Hall gallery. When Soomro saw that scene, he was surprised to see his lost paintings on display.

Seven years later, the majestic art pieces were returned to their owner at the ceremony held solely for this purpose.

During the handover ceremony, the director of KMC stated that Soomro had some misunderstanding regarding his paintaings as they were “not stolen that is why they are being returned to him today”.

When the artist raised the issue on social media after seeing his paintings in a drama, a two-member committee was formed to investigate the matter which submitted its report to Sindh Minister for Culture and Tourism Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah.

The report submitted to the Sindh culture minister revealed that those paintings never went missing in the first place and have been available at the Frere Hall since 2017.

The committee report said that the paintings seen in the drama of a private television channel were the same that were said to be missing, and the drama was indeed shot at Frere Hall.

The report also mentioned that the paintings were frequently moved from one place to another due to different exhibitions. It added that the artist, however, had not expressed any interest in reclaiming his paintings.

The report concluded that there was a misunderstanding between the paintings' owner and the Frere Hall administration, but the paintings were indeed still at the hall.