He finds the world in a piece of wood. Wood is his canvas, crude tools like cutters  and chippers, his paintbrush.  His art is exquisite. Mahboob Ali, 62, is one Lahore’s foremost chroniclers. He has used the cutters, the chippers and crafted the city he lives in with love. His woodcut paintings, over the past forty years, have captured the sights and sounds of Lahore: the life in its old mohallahs; its kite market; its paper market.

Woodcut paintings require dedication. The wood has to gouged out, lines etched, shapes conjured, colours poured, before the print is taken. He says even the most basic of paintings, with just a splash of colour, may take up to three months to make. His painting of Lahore’s famous Charburji or the four towers, which is a riot of colours and kites, took him more than 13 months to make.

Woodcut technique is an old one, developed by the Chinese in 600 AD. The Japanese mastered it, as did the Germans later. Ali, is the only artist of his kind in Pakistan, and has over the decades introduced new elements in the craft, especially his use of colours and shades. The following pages show Lahore through his works.