From the highways to the skies: Pakistan's famous truck art goes airborne

Such art has become one of Pakistan's best-known cultural exports in recent years

Last updated: January 01, 2021 | 15:24

Reuters and Compiled by Nathaniel Lacsina, Senior Web Editor

2 MIN READ

1/9

Karachi, Pakistan: Pakistan's famous truck art will move from its highways to the skies, as a flying academy is painting a two-seater Cessna aircraft with the colourful technique.

2/9

With elaborate and flamboyant motifs, Pakistani truck art has inspired gallery exhibitions abroad and prompted stores in Western cities to sell miniatures.

3/9

"We want to show the world that Pakistan is a very diverse country and a land of opportunities" said Imran Aslam Khan, chief operating officer of Sky Wings, a flight training organisation.

4/9

He also plans to paint other aircraft, with the aim of promoting tourism in Pakistan.

5/9

Such art has become one of Pakistan's best-known cultural exports in recent years.

6/9

UNESCO, for example, has been using truck art, blended with indigenous themes, to promote girls' education in a northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

7/9

"The world is familiar with our truck art representation; now, with this aircraft, our colours will fly in the air. We are really excited," said Haider Ali, the artist painting the aircraft at the academy's hangar.

8/9

Trained by his father, Ali, 40, has been decorating trucks since his childhood and is now one of the most prominent such painters in Pakistan.

9/9

Ali hopes to paint an Airbus or Boeing aircraft in the future, saying an opportunity to work on such gargantuan planes would truly be a learning experience.

Get the latest news and updates straight to your inbox