Kehkashan

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 writing avidly over the past few months and will be publishing soon. My humanitarian work is spilling over into my social media influencing with my Facebook groups, which include a supportive motherhood community, and now I have this idea of how it can all tie in together into my final project.

My point is, the whole picture is beginning to appear. At least to me.

One of the ways in which I connected my art to my humanitarian work is through a Facebook group I created called Taabir–Artists’ Collective. It was a space to not only collect artists and inform them of the ways in which they could join in, but also to connect them to each other, give them a space to learn, grow and network. It also satisfied this inner struggle I have had, rebelling against the elitism of artistic society which I personally observed in Karachi and Jeddah and I have heard exists everywhere else as well. I haven’t studied the Dada or Fluxus theories as much as I would like to (I plan to study them more in the near future), but all I know is I do think art should exist in the fold of everyday life. Accessible to all, created by all. I no longer even believe in the terms art and anti-art. Art should be an occurrence that can tell anyone’s story, in any way. Art should pervade society as if irrigating it, to eradicate intolerance and promote compassion. <– yeah that quotable quote is by yours truly. haha.

So yes, Taabir (which means interpretation in Urdu) happened. And then guess what happened?

Facebook launched their #shemeansbusiness website in Pakistan and THEY CHOSE TAABIR AS ONE OF THE GROUPS TO RECOMMEND!

Yes I wrote that last part in uppercase on purpose. It was so awesome to see the potential of this group being recognized so early and I can’t wait for it to grow bigger. I have some interesting ideas such as the #wingit challenge I recently launched or the tutorials I am encourage artists of all kinds (performers, musicians, writers, poets, visual artists) to create and post on the group so that everyone can benefit from them. I also plan to hold get togethers to allow artists to network and simply to inspire creativity. More on these soon as they start happening.

I’ve also applied to be a Facebook Community Leadership Circle lead here in Jeddah since there is no one connecting creatives here at the moment. I’m not sure if they will select me but fingers crossed!