Czech and Pakistani Heroines: a Book

Professor Murtaza Jafri, Vice-Chancellor of the National College of Arts (NCA), together with Ambassador Tomáš Smetánka launched an exhibition of posters depicting one hundred prominent women of the Czech and Pakistani history and present on 3 December 2022 at the Islamabad building of NCA. They also introduced a book containing portraits of the "Czech and Pakistani Heroines", created by students of the NCA and the Faculty of Design and Art of the University of West Bohemia. The embassy approached the NCA last year with the idea of creating a Pakistani version of the "Czech Heroines" collection, which was conceived in 2020 at the Czech arts school under the leadership of Renáta Fučíková. The proposal to appreciate the role of women and highlight the specific contribution of some through art had been willingly accepted, and the resulting collection was exhibited for the first time in Lahore in August 2022. Thanks to the financial support of Bata Pakistan, a representative publication with a hundred paintings and biographical notes was created, portraying - alongside famous Czech women - Pakistani politicians, singers, poets, lawyers, advocates of women's rights, a mountaineer, an aviator, a Nobel laureate... The launch of the book and the opening of the exhibition were accompanied by an enthralling musical performance by NCA students.

CZ PK Heroines

NCA Students' PErformance

Exhibition Opening