There is great importance of learning history and various different methods are used for learning history. Having statues of historical people is one of these methods.
The placing of Eidi Sahab’s statue at Eidi Chowk, Balochistan has raised the question: why is it important to have sculptures in public spaces? To answer that, I would say that it not only helps us to connect with our roots but also maintain an identity which reflects that. My intent is to explain both the sides of the coin. In order to come up to a solution. Here onwards, I shall be unfolding the topic of the essay.
In rewinding back towards history, it is also significant to know which information is to be retained and what is to be unlearned. This was even mentioned by Susan Dumas in her blog “Unlearning is the new learning.”
Let’s first talk about the brighter side which includes the advantages of having statues of historical people on the public squares and streets. Firstly, looking at the statues of such historical individuals who may not be alive but their legacy continues to live can inspire the youth to go beyond lengths and learn a lesson from them as the statues of heroes of the past indicate the contributions made by them towards the society, which is why they are remembered till date. To understand better, let’s take an example of Quaid-e-Azam, the founder of Pakistan. The newspaper, Express Tribute reported (Baig 2020) that Quaid’s large statue was built by the artist, Tando Allahyar. In the memory of Quaid, which is placed at his residence, Ziyarat that statue has helped us and expatriates get to know the legacy Quaid left behind him.
Secondly, the advantage of having statues of historical figures in public spaces is that it promotes art. Art typically is a form of expression which grants the artist creative freedom to express their feelings whether it is love or grief. Similarly, building statues enables the artist to express their love for those historical people by showing their admiration towards them by making those statues and the people who are attracted towards art feel pleased to see the statues around them, which is why they often visit those places. Gradually, those spaces turn into tourist attraction places and that’s how art is promoted.
Now, let’s talk about the dark side which includes the disadvantages. First and the foremost is, statue making is prohibited in Islam. One of the reasons for this is that people start worshipping them and worshipping a historical figure can give birth towards extremism as people may start to think of themselves as God. This topic was addressed by Pakistani writer, Umera Ahmed in her drama, “ Shahr e Zaat” (Habib 2019) to prevent such Illusional beliefs.
Proceeding forward, another disadvantage of having statues in public spaces is that it triggers anxiety, anger and fear among people, which leads towards the feeling of anonymity with that place. This was reported by Al Jazeera. Let’s proceed on by taking an example of Adolf Hitler. So, his statue was placed in a museum and the museum management did not have any problem from placing that statue until people started complaining. One of the reasons behind the signing complaint was that Nazis killed around 11 million people under Hitler’s regime. This was reported by The Washington post (Wootson, 2017). So from this we understand that, Hitler’s statue can be the symbol of Hatred and it can negatively affect people around and hatred takes away peace of mind and can cause others to not just harm themselves but their surroundings as well.
As, I have mentioned both positive and negative sides so I shall now move on with giving my opinion, leading towards the conclusion.
If I speak my mind, I believe statues must be there in public spaces because of a number of reasons, which have been mentioned above. Furthermore, statues narrate the tales of the past and in order to prosper in the future the past should be like an open book into which we can refer as many times as much we want. It also makes us culturally tolerant because we learn acceptance from the past and it also keeps us away from extremism. As a result of that, there is no hatred in the society which leads towards prosperity in the nation.
To sum it up, I would say that the biggest battles are not won from hatred, instead love and love begins from acceptance. Some learn acceptance when exposure increases. In this case, being exposed towards statues will give birth towards acceptance. So this leads to the encouragement of having the influential statues of historical people in public places, where we can see their legacy continuing to live and inspire the generation of today.
Bibliography:
- Susan Dumar. “Unlearning is the new learning” Retrieved from: https://blog.logicearth.com/unlearning-is-the-new-learning
- Zulfikqar Baig. 2020, “larger than life: sculpture sets national record with giant Jinnah Statue” Retrieved from:
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2191708/larger-life-sculptor-sets-national-record-giant-jinnah-statue
- Mughal Habib (2019) “ Shehr e Zaat: a tale of obsession and pride” Retrieved from: https://dailytimes.com.pk/368517/shehr-e-zaat-a-tale-of-obsession-and-pride/
- (2006) “Statue fatwa riles Artist” Retrieved from: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2006/4/3/statue-fatwa-riles-artists
- Cleeve R Wootsan (2017) “This museum did not think Hitler’s statue is a problem until complains started” Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/11/11/this-museum-didnt-think-its-hitler-statue-was-a-problem-until-the-selfies-started/