A significant part of my project proposal has been stepping out of my comfort zone to see if there were any artistic avenues in Jeddah — contrary to popular opinion. Looking at my old blog posts I realize I can date it back to that day at Arbab al Heraf. That day two things coincidentally came to my attention: I realized that, hidden in the nooks and crannies of Jeddah, circles of writers and artists bloomed Jeddah, and KSA as a whole, was undergoing a mini-cultural revolution Thus began an exploration that has gained momentum over this last year, almost too …
Category: Blog
The Indie Arts and Crafts Show and my first magazine feature!
This summer I was part of one of the largest arts and crafts shows hosted in Karachi by The Crafter’s guild: The Indie Arts and Crafts Show. It was a great opportunity to not only exhibit/sell work but also to meet other artists. It was absolutely incredible to see so much talent and get to befriend people with similar interests. Here are some pictures from the show; it also resulted in me getting featured in a magazine for the first time. Indie Art & Craft Show 2018 The most interesting part of the whole thing were the conversations I had …
#Shemeansbusiness feature
It’s strange because even in my last tutorial with Jonathan I voiced my worry about my varied interests and whether they would at some point converge to make my work a coherent whole. And now, barely a few months later, I can see so many intersections in those interests and I have no difficulty in claiming that I see myself as an artist, writer, humanitarian, social media influencer and, of course, a mom. Literature and art had always intersected for me, and now with the research paper I delve into this connection some more. Then, of course, I have been …
The Untold Edition — Tree Planting Drive with Akhuwat Foundation
I had been researching a lot of public art projects and they inspired me to recreate the idea that public art can break walls. Literally. So the first thing I did when I landed in Karachi was go and buy bricks. Yup. 500 red bricks which we then painted a pale terracotta and stenciled with ‘The Untold Edition” name. The idea was to build a wall out of them along with 500 plants and to invite people to pick up a brick, take home a plant and plant it with the brick placed next to it. Symbolically, and literally, public …
The Untold Edition — On Uncertainty
There have been many (too many?) blogposts on this subject. The reason, I think, is the high degree of uncertainty regarding this particular step. You could say this project was like scaling a wall. And at every point of fatigue, I basically felt like I should just let go. So it was a struggle to not quit and keep moving upwards. In the most recent Skype session, I very proudly announced that I feel freer in my artistic practice of late. Scaling The Untold Edition wall has a lot to do with leaving behind the fear of creating terrible, or …