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Pakistan's hypnotizing truck art

Across South Asia, ordinary delivery trucks are transformed into vibrant works of self-expression

Picture of Elianna Spitzer
by Elianna Spitzer
August 7, 2017

Fruit is unloaded from a truck at a produce market in Faisalabad, Pakistan.

(REUTERS/Caren Firouz)From city marketplaces to sprawling farms, elaborately decorated delivery trucks, buses, rickshaws, and motorcycles decorate the landscape. This is Pakistan's truck art.

Portraits of religious figures decorate a truck in Faisalabad.

(REUTERS/Caren Firouz)Truck art dates back to the early 1940s and can be seen across South Asia. In the early days, the more minimalist designs served as an expression of religious identity.

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A security guard stands by of his favorite painted truck at a truck stop outside Faisalabad.

(REUTERS/Caren Firouz)As the medium gained popularity, painters became a common fixture at workshops and roadside eateries where they tried to lure new clients. Today, truck owners spend hour

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REUTERS/Caren Firouz

(REUTERS/Caren Firouz)

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(REUTERS/Caren Firouz)

Workers load a painted truck with bags of straw outside Faisalabad, Pakistan.

(REUTERS/Caren Firouz)

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(REUTERS/Caren Firouz)

A driver holds open a carved wooden door in Faisalabad, Pakistan.

(REUTERS/Caren Firouz)

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(REUTERS/Caren Firouz)

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A man paints the side of a truck at a workshop outside Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

(REUTERS/Mian Khursheed)

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(REUTERS/Mian Khursheed)

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