Emerging from the fertile Ganges plains, where the river Megna1 flowed, was a textile celebrated for its ethereal qualities. As light as the wind, and clear as the dew, the Indian Muslins, or ‘malmal’, were a delicate, sheer handwoven cotton…
As the garden’s gate opened, an enchanting floral aroma fused with the essence of humanity, soaked profoundly into the soul--- awakening forgotten memories of joyfulness and serenity. The whiff was rich with the fragrance of passion, commitment, quest, and vitality.…
Folktales are not born of chance. “Folktale” has always been an umbrella term encapsulating the whole range of traditional oral narratives. 15 The resilient nature of oral storytelling reflects an interplay of linguistic and social interactions, historical transformations, and the…
I recently sat down for a detailed discussion with Julius John Alam about his practice; what motivates him and most significantly, the new body of work titled Songs of the Suffering Servant that he has recently completed for his solo…
Five years before Waheeda Baloch stood on Bagh Ibne Qasim’s Katrak Band Stand as curator of the Fourth Karachi Biennale (KB24)—with the sun setting before her, and the biennale beginning¾ she was a participating artist at the same location, for…
‘Meri awaaz hi pehchaan hai’ The Indian poet Gulzar might have penned the verse for the likes of Talat Hussain--- people who have been bestowed with a voice that is hard to forget. When it is recalled or replayed, it…
As the morning sun awakes from its slumber over Karachi, the bustling city comes alive with a rhythm and energy of its own. As I look out my car window on the way to school, the racing dewdrops are not…
It’s a curious twist of fate when you discover that not only do you share a name --- with just a slight variation in spelling --- with a renowned artist across the border, but you also share the same birth…
In 1944 a spiky haired boy tried teaching himself swimming, using a clay pot for assistance in the West Bengal River. Abul Mansoor Ahmed—as he was then known—was curious and regularly in trouble. As an adult he would do weighty…
Curated by Waheeda Baloch, the fourth Karachi Biennale titled ‘رزق | Risk --- Food, Futures & Fair Practices’, foregrounds socio-economic and political complexities surrounding local and global food systems and traditional dietary customs, and their entanglement with human practices, culture, heritage,…
