While growing up in Quetta, 24-year-old Hani Baloch did not experience the happy and safe childhood that most people take for granted. Instead, she was surrounded by stories of missing persons, including members of her own family, while explosions and attacks in the city were a recurring reminder of the tenuous security situation, not just in the city but the entire province.

Hani found escape in the arts, taking on sketching, drawing and experimenting with clothes. `I have always been involved in artistic endeavours, ever since I was a child and long before I knew I could take it up as a profession,` she tells Eos.

Having since graduated in fine arts from the University of Balochistan, Hani recently exhibited her thesis, which has earned her quite a few admirers, particularly on social media.

The reason for it is its subject matter: missing persons.

`This was somewhat ingrained in my psyche,` she tells Eos of the enforced disappearances of her family members. `After that, I realised it is the story of most of the Baloch in the province. That is what gave me the idea for my thesis,` she continues.

For her thesis, Hani created traditional Balochi dress, but with sketches of missing persons. She did this despite insistence from her family, as well as at least one teacher, to focus on something else for her thesis. But she persisted.

`It took me five months to complete the dresses that are part of my thesis,` she says. `I felt compelled to do it to highlight the issue of missing persons in Balochistan, because their families are already on the receiving end at the hands of the state,` she explains.

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED When Eos encountered her, Hani was dressed in traditional Balochi attire, covered in a chador. She talked about living on Qambrani Road, a little distance from Sariab Road, once notorious for targeted and militant attacks.

One of seven siblings, she has the good fortune of a supportive family, which enabled her to pursue her dream of getting an education. Her father, now retired, has been her greatest pillar of support, she says. `He watches every single one of my interviews on social media multiple times,` she says with pride.

But it wasn`t always smooth sailing. She was only able to pursue a degree in fine arts after a male elder cousin chose it as a subject at the university. Other wise, she says, her family wanted her to enroll in a more conventional programme, one that could offer `better job prospects.

While resources were always limited, Hani also had to deal with the patriarchal society that was all around her.

She says that she had to walk for 25 minutes every day, before either getting a rickshaw or the local bus, to reach the university. `The men in the town would always stare at me, making me feel uncomfortable,` she continues.

It got to the point, according to Hani, that she became a subject of gossip and shamed for `being a girl who goes to the university on her own, without being accompanied by a man.` This gossip is yet to die down, she adds.

Meanwhile, it was never easy for her to afford the various tools and materials required for her artistic work. She borrowed from friends and cousins to continue with her dream.

`Thanks to my father, I have paid off some people`s debts, as I always do,` she says, before adding that she remains indebted to her friends and family for providing her the funds at her time of need.

Hani does not have any doubt that the changing political landscape of her city and the province wreaked havoc on her peace of mind and sense of security, as it did with uncountable others.

She says that her family members have been victims of enforced disappearances, allegedly at the hands of the state. `I grew up in a state of fear and anxiety because of those experiences,` she says. `This fear also provides me the conviction to raise this issue through my art,` she adds.

WHAT NEXT Now, after the exhibition of her thesis work, she has come into the limelight, particularly on social media.

While Hani seems to be taking this fame in her stride, it has her parents worried.

Hani`s mother, Mehmooda, attended the exhibition and stood by her daughter as she was interviewed by various journalists and news platforms. As Hani recalls it, her mother was both happy and sad at the exhibition. `My mother told me that she was afraid for me, because my work might result in threats against me,` Hani narrates.

Despite coming from a modest family, her extraordinary commitment to the arts has seen her make her mark as an artist and an activist. But, as Haninarrates it, the hurdles remain. Balochistan doesn`t have a postgraduate arts programme, and Hani will have to at least move cities to continue her trajectory.

Hani already has her sights set on the prestigious National College of Arts in Lahore. She adds, however, that the idea is farfetched, as her family lacks the resources and she is unlikely to get any government scholarship or support due to the controversial topic of her thesis.

Farfetched it might be, but Hani is confident that the universe will conspire to help her achieve her goal and put her firmly on the path of success. To illustrate her point, she says that when she submitted her thesis, she was told by her supervisors that her output wasn`t enough. `Within four days, I came up with two more frames to portray the idea,` she adds.

One of the frames that she came up with depicts a white bird.

When asked why she chose the white bird, her reply was telling: `The white bird denotes peace, prosperity and oneness, and that is what I yearn for, for my Baloch people.

The writer is a staff member. X: @Akbar_notezai