Written by: Hamad Ali
Posted on: June 18, 2019 | 
| 中文
Exhibition poster
Compared to race or gender, which are embodied and can be viewed and understood easily, class is less obviously inscribed on the physical body, thus poorly understood by society. Class differences contain more gray areas, and class-based issues are not always so obviously shown. To make this process smoother, it is imperative that the people who are largely considered on the lower end of the socioeconomic classes have their voices heard by the public. For this purpose, The School of Writing (TSW) started a program focusing on Civic Action Through Journalism. Their exhibition, titled ‘Look at the City from Here’, took place from 15th June 2019 to 16th June 2019 at Karachi Arts Council. The exhibition showcased stories from 300 participants belonging to 12 disadvantaged areas of Karachi.
A formal opening ceremony was held in which Executive Director of TSW Mohsin Tejani congratulated the participants on the culmination of their projects. This was followed by a gallery tour of the exhibition itself. Many of the stories displayed dealt with themes of water scarcity, coastal life, physical abuse, identity, gender, and education. Every photograph was accompanied with an audio narrative which the visitors could listen to, adding to the dynamic nature of the exhibition. While the pictures seemed at a distance to my friends and I, hearing their stories and viewing their pain brought us close to the everyday lives of the people in the pictures.
The displayed photographs were taken by the residents of those areas who depicted the city from their personal perspectives as opposed to those of an outsider. Through this, we as the audience could view the sprawling metropolis of Karachi from a unique lens. The photographs were raw and emotive, creating a space for their narratives to be heard and seen. However, had this exhibition been displayed at a mainstream art gallery, it would have gathered more viewers and the stories would have had a far greater outreach.
The curator, Fizza Khatri, superbly captured the stories of everyday struggle by showcasing an exhibition that reads almost like a narrative, in which the stories all made sense together as a larger story of injustice. For instance, stories about the water crises were exhibited in a particular section of the installation using pipes stained with dirt and paan, which I found particularly captivating.
In another exhibit, Faizan Akbar and Zareen Khan told a very compelling story of Haleema Bibi and Noor Ali’s particular struggle as Bengali refugees. Rendered in monochromatic greys, the photographs tell a vivid narrative of the couple living in Bengali Para, an area situated in Gulshan Iqbal, Karachi. After the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, the couple, like many others in their locality, couldn’t move to Bangladesh. But because they were Benagli, they became refugees in a country in which they had always lived. Because they still don’t have a national identity card, they face discrimination and violence at the hands of their employers who take advantage of the fact that their identity card is not made.
In a particularly moving piece, Yasmin and Kainat told the story of Zainab who lives in Ibrahim Hyderi, a small town situated near the coastal area of Karachi. Zainab herself narrates how she faces difficulties everyday trying to cook for her family. She has to wait for hours to make two rotis (bread) because the area in which she resides has an acute problem of gas load-shedding. This is primarily because Ibrahim Hyderi has a plethora of illegal shops, which temper the pipelines for their use and block the free flow of natural gas to households like those of Zainab. This gas shortage prevents her from doing her daily chores, leading to the anger of her children and husband. Zainab has tried to find alternatives to gas, like firewood and cylinders, but she often avoids them as they are a risk to her and her family’s health.
The interactive exhibition design, vivid photography and strong audio narratives coalesced into a unique experience which was as empathetic as it was sharp in its observation. Although the space seemed too small to handle these larger-than-life narratives, such initiatives are vital in merging art with civic action.
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