The decorative truck as a communicative device

ALAIN LEFEBVRE

To decorate objects one likes is a universal phenomenon, but when one

tries to understand it, an explanation of'art for art's sake' is not sufficient.
It is not only a need for esthetics, which is the point of resemblance
between, for example, a Californian Hell's Angel's chopper and a
Portuguese fishing boat.
In order to understand the meaning behind this desire to decorate, one
should focus upon the content of the decorations. They are not chosen
arbitrarily, but from a need to define oneself as a member of a particular
social group.
The vehicle mediates an idea; it has become a means of communication.
Its owner is identified by different forms of visible or invisible signs which
carry a signification. The invisible signs are, however, understood within
the group producing them. The owner strives to tell something about
himself, about his cosmology, through the help of a specific code.
In this paper we shall see how a semiotic analysis of decorations and
paintings on trucks in Pakistan makes possible a decodification of their
content and meaning, and thus an understanding of the trucker's
message.

The truck as carrier of a homogenous sign system

Everywhere in Pakistan — from the mountain ranges in the north to the

desert of Baluchistan in the south — one can see stately and colorful
decorated trucks. Truck owners decorate not only the large surface of the
load, but also the fuel tank, the bolts on the wheels, and the rear view
mirror; in other words, each and every element of the body is painted,
ornamented, and decorated.
If one asks the driver what is the background for this form of popular
esthetics, he answers that he likes to be surrounded by beautiful objects.
But the reality seems more complex when one notices the existence of a

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specific repeated pattern concerning both the choice of the motifs and
their location on the truck. In reality, the truck is used by the driver as a
carrier of a message. He has something to tell, and consciously uses a
pictorial language as his medium. The decorations have a communicative
purpose; their meaning can be understood by relating them to the
trucker's social background, his cultural traditions, and his worldview,
marked by a popular conception of Islam.

Two purposes of the decorations

I shall distinguish between two main genres of decorations, each with its
specific function.
The first genre is turned toward other people's attention, and contains
an easily understood symbolism. The driver spends most of his time away
from his house, family, and friends. He is away from the milieu where his
social status and his personality are known. His work entails a root-
lessness which he reduces through the creation of a steadfast and
confident frame — by the arrangement of the driver's cabin and the
choice of motifs for the decoration.
The truck is at the same time his mobile home and his calling card.
Within this first genre, one may find three types of decorations.
The first type is characterized by naturalistic pictures. Originally, many
truck drivers are Pashtun, a people who live in the northwestern part of
Pakistan and the eastern part of Afghanistan. The Pashtuns cherish their
mountainous country and its magnificent nature, and one can see
mountainous landscapes and flowers on almost every truck. By choosing
these motifs, the driver takes along with him a part of his home, of his
origin.
Such animals as lions, tigers, and eagles belong to the second type. Here
one can talk of symbolic signs — following the American semiotician
Peirce's classification of signs. It is not the animals themselves the driver
likes, but the qualities with which they are associated. Just like them, he
wants to be considered strong, proud, and fast by the strangers he meets
on his way. He tries to win their respect by emphasizing his masculine and
courageous character.
The third type of painting is represented by modern machines, like
express trains in motion or jet planes flying over mosques. The driver
admires technological progress, and defines the truck and himself as part
of it. He wants to show that one should not consider him ignorant of the
world's development in spite of his low social status in Pakistani society.
In addition to these compulsory types of motifs, one finds paintings

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 The decorative truck as a communicative device 217

which are characterized by a more personal touch. They refer to the

driver's individual admiration for a particular bird, a historical monu-
ment, or the former president of Pakistan, Fieldmarshal Mohammed
Ayub Khan, who is very popular among the Pashtuns because of his own
Pashtu origin.
The other main genre of decoration is even more important for the
driver. He finds himself in a dilemma. On the one hand, he must decorate
his truck so as to catch the people's attention. But on the other hand, his
cosmological view tells that the world is inhabited by invisible beings
called djinns, which are attracted by beautiful objects too. He therefore
chooses some decorations because of their power to protect against evil.
Some of them, like the pictorial reproductions of Muslim holy places,
have a positive role by appealing to God and reminding Him of the
driver's devotion. Other decorations play a negative role, warding off the
evil eye. The driver camouflages beauty with the use of black hanging
pieces of cloth and different types of amulets, hoping this way to avert the
misfortunes of the crew and the goods during the journey.

The layout of the motifs

The layout of the decorations follows a system which strengthens their

function. Reproduction of mosques, quotations from the Qur'än, and
amulets are found on the driver's cabin and on the front part of the load.
This is the part of the truck which is seen first by God and the
supernatural spirits when it drives. Along the sides, one finds naturalistic
paintings located in frames reminiscent of comic strips. In addition,
practical information, such as the name of the transport company and of
the cities where the goods are delivered, is painted. The back panel, with
its large surface, is the ideal place for a large-size painting and for
humorous phrases directed at the vehicles driving behind. Because of the
high speed at which the truck travels, other drivers see it only from the
back, and they should not be in doubt as to who is at the steering wheel in
front of them.

The painter's frame of inspiration

The painter's imagination is limited by the driver's symbolic frame of

reference. Sometimes, of course, a painter finds a new motif or is inspired
by a school-book or an advertisement in a Western magazine (the two
most common sources of inspiration). But his creative process is character-

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218 A. Lefebvre

ized more by the reproduction of a code through which the driver can
express himself than by a continual search for new motifs. His artistic
qualities are valued according to his ability to create something original
from the existing register. This is a characteristic specific to Muslim
esthetics. It is through his layout of known motifs, his capacity to
compose with or without taking the given frames into account, and his
self-confidence in the drawing itself that a painter becomes popular. The
painter's frame of creativity is therefore limited by a social consensus
about the content esthetic forms of expression should have. He is obliged
to respect the driver's desire for specific genres of decoration. The latter's
message must be understood by everyone, and the motifs have to be clear
in their symbolism. A new abstract language would have the opposite
effect, because cryptic signs cannot immediately inform about the truck-
er's identity and personality. The decorations would lose their strength if
reading them required too many intellectual speculations. One should be
able to read a truck like a poster, rapidly and easily, with a symbolism
known by everyone.

A global system of signs

The driver has other means to underline his image. To drive a truck is
more than just a job; it is also a lifestyle. The driver is aware of the
reputation as a modern adventurer he has among the men-in-the-street.
Through his behavior and manners he tries to express masculinity,
courage, and toughness in such a way that the others' fear and respect are
strengthened. He drives fast and carelessly, the road is his own; he smokes
hashish (both to enhance his reputation and because it is an aid in
surviving the tempo of work); he likes erotic love songs; he has sexual
relationships with his young assistant; he smuggles goods; he shows off by
recalling how he is constantly confronted with dangers on the road. In
other words, these characteristics are complementary to the power of
expression of the truck itself, and together they constitute a generalized
code of signs which underline the trucker's membership in a sub-group.

The prestige value of the truck

The decorated Pakistani truck is an example of how an object is allocated

a codified meaning and how this codification is ideologically structured.
Besides a use-value, one can give a prestige-value to the truck. Here the
concept 'prestige' refers not to individual narcissism, to a need to own a

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 The decorative truck as a communicative device 219

truck more beautiful than the others, but to the purpose itself of the
rhetoric of decoration.
It is not only the function of the truck as a means of transportation
which satisfies the needs of its owner. It is also its use as a place where the
owner can prove his social rank and individual value through a symbolic
transformation. The choice of motifs is the carrier of a social and cultural
hierarchy. It shows us how a group of people wish to define themselves in
contrast to others in society through their specific worldview. It tells us
also about these individuals' conceptions of happiness, enthusiasm, and
anxiety.
We assume that a semiotic analysis of other decorated vehicles will
confirm that what has been considered a folk art is, in reality, a means of
communication used by socioeconomically disadvantaged or isolated
groups in the society. This pictorial language develops itself concomi-
tantly and harmoniously with the social, economic, and cultural transfor-
mations.

Alain Lefebvre (b. 1948) is a Research Fellow for the Danish Research Council at the Center
for Development Research in Copenhagen, working on the project 'Socio-cultural identity
and economic development in Pakistani villages'. His principal research interests include
semiotics of popular esthetics in Pakistani society, Islam iconography, and women's
acceptance of male dominance in Muslim societies. Among his publications are 'Les luttes
de la communaute pakistanaise de Paris' (with A. Zragevsky, 1980), 'Punjabi village women
and international labour migration from Pakistan' (1984), International Labour Migration
from Two Pakistani Villages with Different Forms of Agriculture (1986), and The Socio-
economic Aspect of the Pakistani Migrant Community in Paris (1987).

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220 A. Lefebvre

Plate 1. Pashtun truckers in front of their vehicles at a parking place in Karachi (December
1977).

Plate 2. A four-wheel-drive half-bus, half-truck on the way to Thar Parkar desert in the
province of Sind (February 1981).

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Plate 3. Besides the painter, eight types of craftsman are responsible for the transformation
and embellishment of the truck. This entails a great variety of decorations (Karachi, December
1977).

Plate 4. The sides of the truck are divided into small panels which challenge the painter's
imagination in the disposition of the motifs. A three-dimensional calligraphy is often used
(Karachi, January 1981).

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Plate 5. Trucks and buses become a multimedia show at night, with garlands of bulbs which
flash rhythmically with the horn (Rawalpindi, August 1981).

Plate 6. A mountainous landscape reminiscent of the Pashtuns' homeland is painted on the

back of a petrol tank (Rawalpindi, April 1982).

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 The decorative truck as a communicative device 223

Plate 7. The driver's cabin is the mobile home of the trucker for much of the year
(Rawalpindi, April 1982).

Plate 8. Naturalist reproductions of flowers express the driver's love of nature (Gujarkhan,
May 1982).

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(Rawalpindi, May 1982)

(Rawalpindi, April 1982) (Karachi, January 1981)

Plates 9-11. Power, strength, speed, and freedom are the main characteristics of the
Pakistani trucker's machismo. He chooses motifs of animals which symbolize this image.

Plate 12. To underline that he is a part of the technological development is also a reason for
the trucker's choice of motifs (Rawalpindi, February 1981).

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 The decorative truck as a communicative device 225

Plate 13. The Pashtun Fieldmarshal Mohammad Ayub Khan is the only politician reproduced
on the trucks (Rawalpindi, April 1982).

Plate 14. Some of the motifs of decorations remind one of erotic and very provocative film
posters (Karachi, February 1981).

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Plate 15. The winged anthropomorph Al Buraq, which carried the Prophet Mohammad to the
seventh step of heaven, is very often painted on the back panel of the truck (Peshawar,
Februaiy 1981).

Plate 16. Protection against the evil eye is necessary according to the popular cosmology.
Here it is fulfilled by hanging black pieces of cloth in front of the load (Karachi, December
1981).

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 The decorative truck as a communicattive device 227

Plate 17. The painter is a skillful calligrapher, and he translates the driiver's message into a
pictorial form (Rawalpindi, January 1981).

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