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To many a Pakistani’s mind, the term “art” comes with visuals of paintings of sunsets, cultural scenes, maybe some pieces exploring Pakistan’s natural beauty. Sameera Raja, the founder of Karachi’s Canvas Art Gallery, says art can be more than that.

Speaking to Dawn’s Fatima Attarwala on the podcast All Things Money, she said the problem with Pakistan’s art scene was not a lack of talent — there was enough to go around — there just weren’t that many patrons of contemporary artists.

“We have no dearth of artists. We have no dearth of good artists. We have a dearth of awareness of the arts. We have a dearth of patronage of the arts,” Raja said.

She said the public’s idea of art around the world had changed substantially in the 21st century, but it remained somewhat stagnant in Pakistan, including in diaspora Pakistanis, who changed with the world in all other aspects, but still wanted to see the Pakistan of yore in art.

“They’re still looking for that little piece of Pakistan that they left behind 40 years back, a street scene, a rickshaw, wires, the Thari women, the swirling dervishes — which were never part of our history — [and] calligraphy, which is really not our strength. And they’re still looking for that because I think they want to prove or retain that part of Pakistaniyat.”

She said part of the problem was how we treat art as a society. She said when children are in school, great emphasis is placed on them studying and excelling in science and maths, while art is treated as a “stepchild”.

Raja said that while society may see art as unimportant, it actually helps people with their “physical and mental well-being”.

These attitudes, she said, have resulted in people not having awareness about and access to the art scene. The curator pointed out that Karachi, the country’s largest urban centre, did not have an art museum, which is what led to even the city’s more educated echelons not being familiar with art.

“Until people see art in the public sphere, how would they become aware of it? That’s why you’re still living in the rickshaws and the telephone wires and the electricity wires and, you know, the Thari women,” she said.

As for what can be done, Raja said raising awareness was especially important, but it must be done by people from the field, not bureaucrats and government workers. She said people with relevant knowledge telling others about art might eventually get the public and private sectors to work together to promote the arts.

The private sector, she said, was especially important to this in a Pakistani context because the government of a developing country had more urgent issues to solve. The state could, however, contribute in other ways.

“Our issues are roti, kapda aur makaan, (food, clothing and housing,) right? So, I would never actually ask the government to put in money into an art project, because I think that is something that they can avoid doing. They should only be facilitating the process. They should be working with the school syllabus, because that they can do.”

The curator said there were success stories of private sector interest advancing art in developing countries, including examples from India and Bangladesh.

“They have foundations, they have trusts, which are all private people. So, they have the vision… because there’s wealth there. There is wealth over here also, but it’s just that the wealthy over here are not culturally inclined.”

She said one major difference was that Pakistanis were not yet comfortable with their cultural identity like their neighbours. Raja hoped that, if the people of Pakistan can move out of that discomfort, they’d begin appreciating art for all the good it brings into their lives.