A Journey Blending Art, Education, and Iowa's Rich History

A painting by HMP student Gul Rukh Mehboob was selected to commemorate the University of Iowa’s 175th anniversary.

BY EMILY NELSON

Gul Rukh Mehboob, a PhD student in the Department of Health Management and Policy studying health economics, has ensured that a part of herself will remain on the University of Iowa campus after she leaves.

“I believe that wherever you go, you leave a part of yourself there,” says the Fulbright scholar from Peshawar, Pakistan.

Her watercolor painting of Old Capitol was selected to celebrate the university’s 175 years as an institution and to commemorate the installation of Barbara Wilson as UI’s 22nd president.

Mehboob’s concept for the piece was to illustrate the university’s rich history and transformation to a contemporary campus. The base of the work resembles a black-and-white photo of the Old Capitol to reflect the university’s long history with strategic color elements added in.

“I chose the golden dome because that represents hope,” Mehboob says. “And the autumn trees are colored to show inclusion—all the people who come here to study and the peace and prosperity and colors they take with them back to their homes and spread there. That was something in my mind that I wanted to tell through my art.”

KEEPING A LOVE OF ART

Mehboob says her parents are big believers in education as a catalyst for social change and their house was always filled with books. While she grew up loving art, her family encouraged her to go in a different direction. She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics. After being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and experiencing the health care system from a patient perspective, Mehboob developed an interest in health economics and decided to devote herself professionally to that field. But she never abandoned her love of art.

“I kept on doing it as a hobby,” Mehboob says. “I see art as creativity of the soul, and it became a good form of inner growth and expression for me.” While she was a faculty member at a business school in Peshawar, Mehboob established an initiative called Arts, Creativity and Freedom, through which artists were invited to conduct workshops for the business students and faculty and were provided venues to exhibit art.

Mehboob also uses her art to help fund two volunteer projects that help education in Pakistan. All money she makes from selling her art—including the commission she received for the UI 175th anniversary artwork—goes to funding Ujala School initiative (which means “light of hope”) and Kitab Dost (Friends of Books). Both initiatives were established under the umbrella of the Association for Business, Professional, and Agricultural Women, a nongovernmental volunteer organization with which Mehboob is heavily involved.

FINDING A HOME IN IOWA

As Pakistan begins to roll out a universal health coverage program, health care financing experts are needed. Mehboob was already working with the ministry on the effort, but says she needed to improve some of her skills so she could contribute even more.

“I wanted to go for my PhD because of my strong belief in education as a tool that really can be used to make a difference at various levels,” Mehboob says. Mehboob began applying for scholarships and earned a Fulbright—the second person in her family after her sister also studied in the United States on a Fulbright award.

As she started looking at where she wanted to study, Mehboob says she was impressed with Iowa’s College of Public Health—but something else stood out to her.

“The University of Iowa looked like a sort of mini world because it’s home to more than 130 nationalities and 2,800 international students,” Mehboob says. “That fascinated me and it said to me that they really welcome people from other countries. It felt like home before I even got here.”

Mehboob saw the call for artists for the 175th celebration near the end of her first semester at Iowa. She says it was perfect timing.

“When I came here, I was totally out of touch from my art because I was struggling to settle down and set up a home and learn the new system here and everything, so I missed my art,” Mehboob says. “When I’m away from my art, I feel that I’m just not in touch with myself, so I was craving for it.”

Mehboob says it’s amazing to think that when she returns to Pakistan after earning a PhD, her artwork will remain permanently on display—with the original in the Office of the President and a print in the Vice President’s office suite in the Iowa Memorial Union. “For something artistic of mine to remain here means a lot to me,” Mehboob says.

Photos by Tim Schoon