Fayza Haq passes away

Eminent art critic, journalist and teacher Fayza Haq passed away due to prolonged illness yesterday morning. She was 68.

She breathed her last at her Dhanmondi residence in the capital.

Fayza was laid to eternal rest at Banani graveyard after the Asr prayers, amid a gathering of family members, former colleagues and readers.

She had been an integral part of The Daily Star since its inception and embellished the daily with her profound knowledge, erudition and avid enthusiasm in exploring art and culture.

There are few art critics in the country who wrote as extensively on fine arts and culture as she did.

Eminent artist Rafiqun Nabi said, “Fayza Haq is one of the pioneer art critics of our country. She would write not just for writing's sake, rather interact with the artists to know about their feelings and understandings.”

“While writing, she would employ the artists' opinions with her own realisations. This set a unique standard and quality in her writings. There are a very few art critics in our country, of those, English writers are even rarer. Fayza Haq was the finest among the art critics who wrote in English. She was my favourite art critic.”

“She could mingle with artists with ease. Fayza Haq was popular among young artists… A vacuum has been created in the field through her demise. The artist community will remember her forever,” he added.

Acclaimed artist Kalidas Karmakar, said, “I feel sad hearing the news of Fayza Haq's departure. May God rest her soul in peace. She wrote an article on my first solo exhibition in 1976. Since then, we shared a close bonding.”

Fayza began writing for The Daily Sun (Pakistan) in 1970 while she was teaching at Karachi University. Continuing two professions simultaneously was a problem for her and subsequently her father asked her to choose between them. Fayza then decided to continue journalism and switched to The Morning News (Pakistan).

Later, she worked at The Bangladesh Observer and The Bangladesh Times until joining The Daily Star at its inception almost a quarter century back.

She continued writing for the daily even after her retirement in 2015, on a variety of topics.