The world of Fayza Haq

Punctual, committed, and kind.

The recently deceased art critic, journalist and teacher Fayza Haq was described by these words as colleagues and friends came together to reminisce about their memories with her at The Daily Star Centre yesterday.

Haq had been with The Daily Star since its inception, and wrote for the Daily Sun (Pakistan) and Morning News (Pakistan) and taught at Karachi University.

Recalling her memories, arts and entertainment editor of the newspaper Sadya Afreen Mallick said, “You will be surprised to know that Fayza Haq was the first one to reach office at 6:30am."

Editor and Publisher of The Daily Star Mahfuz Anam said, "I would like to pay rich tributes to Fayza Haq, who was our colleague from the very inception of The Daily Star."

"Her commitment to work was unparalleled," he said. "She would go to any length to find an artist covering an exhibition. I think she should be termed as one of the pioneering art critics. Bangladesh didn't have too many like her and definitely English newspapers didn't have such a devoted soul dedicated to flourish art."

"As a person she was extremely kind and had deep empathy for everyone.”

Deputy Editor (editorial & op-ed) of The Daily Star Aasha Mehreen Amin, said, “Two things were very important for Fayza Apa that she lived for. One is 'The Daily Star' and the other is 'the world of art', and obviously the two things overlapped a lot.”

Many of her colleagues including, Mizanur Rahman, general manager (finance and administration), also shared their fond memories of Fayza Haq.

Sadya Mallick said, "We have already conveyed our message to Editor Mahfuz Anam to publish a book on Fayza Apa's selective works. We think the art world and the young journalists will be benefited if it is published.”

Artist Nisar Hossain, professor and dean of the fine arts faculty at Dhaka University, said, “Fayza Haq would visit exhibitions singly in a quiet moment to take artists' comments on their works. It was her unique style."

"She was very professional to her works and won our hearts with her personality. Her writings are lucid, substantial and devoid of philosophical jargons and theoretical aspects. Everyone would follow her and we have many things to learn from her writings. Publishing a book on her selective works would be a commendable job to capture a specific time of fine arts history in Bangladesh.”

Bruno Plasse, director of Alliance Française de Dhaka (AFD), said, “Fayza Haq was not the kind of art critic who would write for the newspaper with the press release we send to the journalists.

"She would rather take time and talk to the artists prior to writing an article. She put proper comments on every artwork that were very interesting to read. She was extremely punctual and truly dedicated to her works. We really miss her a lot. It is a great loss for the art and artist community in Dhaka.”

Julian Francis, a friend of Fayza Haq, said, “People at The Daily Star already know, Fayza would always send so many gifts and cards. She used to send me birthday cards three months in advance in case she forgot.

"She would send different gifts, perfumes and clothes for different occasions. I am currently wearing trousers made of material she had sent for me. I remember how she would carry around a bag full of presents for everyone she would meet throughout the day. I went to visit her when she was ill, and it is just terrible that she was not better taken care of.”

Among others, artist and Associate Professor of Jagannath University Dr Rashid Amin, News Editor of ATN Bangla Rumi Noman and artists Gulshan Hossain, Anukul Chandra Mojumder and Shahnoor Mamun spoke at the event. Eminent Tagore singer Abdud Wadud offered a song "Achhey Dukkho Achhey Mrityu" at the event.

Fayza Haq passed away on July 7, at age 68.