Decorated Vehicles in Pakistan

truck-and-fish
Pakistan, the country today is known for terrorism and extremism but it has beautiful culture and lovely people. In this post we are discussing wondorous truck and bus decoration of art of Pakistan. This extraordinary tradition has it’s routes in the days of the Raj when craftsmen made glorious horse draw carriages for the gentry. In the 1920’s the Kohistan bus company asked the local Michaelangelo, Ustad Elahi Buksh, a master craftsmen to decorate their buses to attract passengers. Buksh employed a community of artists from the Punjab town of Chiniot, who’s ancestors had worked on many great palaces and temples dating back to the Mogal Empire.
15 Photos
It was not long before truck owners followed suite with their own designs. Through the years the materials used have developed from wood and paint to metal, tinsel, plastic and reflective tape. Within the last few years trucks and buses have been further embellished with full lighting systems.

Via Peter Grant

a-truck-in-sunset

This art is so Pakistani, that the freight trucks which are built by Ford, General Motors, Hino Pak etc in beautiful aerodynamic shapes are first retro-fitted with very Pakistani stlye bodies and a special ‘viewing deck’ at the top of Driver’s cab. The ‘viewing deck’ is a very multipurpose extra space. It is used by ‘cleaners’ to sleep at night and also to load extra luggage when needed.

row-of-trucks

truck-on-a-road

truck-head

viewing-deck

Viewing deck of a truck with colorful painting.

drivers-cabin

Driver cabin is also custom designed and very colourful.

hino-front-bumper-design

Customized design of front bumper of Hino truck.

truck-painting

Paintings are common at rear side of trucks.

Truck Painting

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An artisan painting a truck.

hino-painting

Americans got a tiny taste of Pakistani truck painting in the summer of 2002 at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, when Ali and bodywork expert Jamil ud-Din brought a truck from Karachi to Washington, D.C. They decorated it right there on the National Mall, as outdoor artists-in-residence. As a talent scout for the festival’s Silk Road theme, truck aficionado Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, an anthropology professor at the University of Michigan and a top us scholar of Pakistani culture, chose the pair for their versatility in incorporating the country’s disparate styles of truck art. Their finished masterpiece, a 1976 Bedford, is now part of the Smithsonian’s permanent collection.

worker-decorating

hino

In next post we will discover buses and other decorated vehicles, so stay tuned.

Update 2nd Part of Pakistani Decorated Vehicles

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13 responses to “Decorated Vehicles in Pakistan”

  1. Truck Art | Colorful Decorated Trucks of Pakistan | Desi Babes, Pakistani Indian Girls Blog

    [...] has featured stunning Truck Art of Pakistan. Just like the Billboard painting performed in Pakistan, there is another indigenous form of art [...]

  2. naeem arif

    Extra Ordinary Work

  3. khan

    enjoy buddy

  4. khan

    wowowowo

  5. Sajjad

    “Pakistan, the country today is known for terrorism and extremism” no this is not at all pakistan,Pakistanis are peaceful poeple.It is the negative conclusion drawn. they are suffering because of the enemies like india, USSR & isralie. they togather want to destablize our country.

  6. Decorated Vehicles in Pakistan Part 2 | Wonderful Weird Things

    [...] for updates on this topic or want to recieve latest updates in email.This is the second post of decorated vehicles in Pakistan series. In first post we published truck art of Pakistani artists, in this post we are featuring stunning [...]

  7. Dai Preece

    In the third sentence you wrote “has its routes in” is this a deliberate pun?

  8. Owais Ahmed

    really nice post..
    these trucks are the real sign of our culture!! : )
    Earn more NOW!

  9. sajayali

    wow i like it he is so cute………………………………………………………….so nice

  10. Cool Cars

    Very cool collection…so much detail on these vehicles…must have taken ages to create!

  11. What's the little chappal about? - GupShup Forums

    [...] here: Decorated Vehicles in Pakistan | Weird Pictures, Wonderful Things and scroll down to the photo of the guy squatting down by the bumper skirt. There is a little [...]

  12. saboor khan

    realy i like my pakistan and its culture very much.pakistan the name of purity trust and sure.
    let us make our country beautiful.let us serve it.let us join together.saboor khan pakistan

  13. Happy 1st Anniversary – TheWondrous.com Turns One Year Old! | Weird Pictures, Wonderful Things

    [...] Decorated Vehicles in Pakistan [...]

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