Category: Blog

The Art Institute of Chicago

The Chicago trip… what can I say? It was a medley of moments; distressing, uplifting, thrilling and overwhelming all in turn. I’m still working on completing the visual journal and then will post details of the whole experience. For now, let me write this blogpost on the highlight of the whole trip: a visit to the Art Institute of Chicago. Can you see the stars shining in my eyes as I say this? Where do I begin? Walking into the Art Institute of Chicago is like walking into a miniature replica of this world where every room leads you to …

Inside the peach there was a stone

Inspiration can come from the most random of sources! A few weeks ago I watched Alias Grace, the adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel. I was intrigued. I was mesmerized. I was moved. Because isn’t that what society does? The actions of women are taken and discussed and judged till the truth vanishes and all that remains is a woman pretending to be who you want her to be. The man interviewing her was severely flawed himself and yet society gave him the task of discovering whether this woman was flawed or not. Grace Marks became a sort of expert on …

Tutorial 2!

Tutorial 2!

Date: 23rd January 2018 with Jonathan Kearney This is long overdue! Chicago has been keeping me busy with its biting winter winds and tons and tons of random moments of artistic inspiration. But, finally, I am getting around to writing this (compulsory!) blogpost. Upon reflection, this tutorial was so vastly different from the previous one. In the previous one I stepped in uncertain and after the discussion, came out with so much clarity and direction. At the beginning of this tutorial I was more excited. I was bursting with ideas, but by the end I had discovered multiple new perspectives …

Reach Art–a pop up art show

Reach Art, (potentially bad) wordplay on reaching out, was a literal attempt by me to reach out to expat artists in Jeddah. Look, the way I see it, you don’t learn anything until you step out of your comfort zone. You may be completely blind, feeling about in the dark to find footing, and you definitely could fall flat on your face. But you may also end up finding that light shining at the end of the tunnel. Eureka! Reach Art turned out to be a bit of both: falling flat + shining light. By falling flat I mean that …

The Other Story Project–collaboration

The Other Story Project is a fascinating community project initiated by Fatima Al Banawi in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.  Here’s a bit more about Fatima Banawi herself: I find her and her work very inspirational. The focus of my own past community projects in Karachi has been to provide a platform for the stories and voices of women and children. And now, with my MA project I hope to reach a greater understanding of contemporary forms of narrative art, not to mention the interchangeability of mediums such as writing, painting, sculpting, performing etc. The Other Story Project also has another arm …