women under siege

14 May 2012

For me, Spring 2012 has been about Women Under Siege, a Voices Breaking Boundaries production, which I’ve been working on since December 2011. We had an intense Part 1 on April 28, packed with videos, installations and performances. A large number of community members showed up to express their views and respond to the art, and many stories were recorded.

Part 2 was held just this past weekend, a quieter production that was an opportunity to digest and reflect on the art and conversation from two weeks ago. Pictures can be viewed on VBB’s Flickr site. Videos and other documentation will be uploaded soon.

Meanwhile, you can read some of the press about the show by visiting CultureMap’s coverage as well as a Houston Chronicle editorial.

op-ed in the houston chronicle

28 January 2012

On January 27, 2012 my op-ed Observing social change, in Houston and Karachi appeared in the Houston Chronicle.

a room of one's own...

15 January 2012

Collaboration can be fabulous but working alone is often under-rated. Susan Cain’s op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times reminds us of how creativity is connected to solitude.

a trip to the interior...

25 December 2011

I catch a ride to villages outside of the rural township of Sujawal with architect Shahid Khan, CEO of Indus Earth Trust, an NGO that’s working with the coastal rural communities in Sindh and Balochistan. Shahid Khan is training villagers to reconstruct new hutments using indigenous materials after the flooding that devastated Sindh over the last two years.

Part of the organization’s efforts involve education and support of traditional art such as the creation of rillis using cotton rather than polyester that has permeated the region. Other forms of art, drawings on clay, also appear in spaces.

memories...

19 December 2011

I always enjoy visiting the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi. Today, I spend some time with Tazeen Hussain, who will be helping out with VBB spring living room art productions.

As I leave the building, I visit the IVS Alumni exhibition and walk through the beautifully constructed building. The basket installation catches my eye, and I am reminded of the times when Dadiamman dropped her basket into our courtyard, and Ammi sent her the garlic or onions she needed to complete her dish.

Her basket was not exactly like the ones exhibited here, but just seeing these roped objects throws me back to a childhood on Jamshed Road.

ideas are bullet-proof...

11 November 2011

Graffiti along Allen Parkway.