Longing for Paradise: Map Shawl of Kashmir

This session focuses on a critical analysis of the sociocultural & political aspects of the Kashmir conflict. Through an art exhibition & documentary screening, it serves to record silent Kashmiri voices and reflect on resilience while divulging overlooked costs of postcolonial nationalism.

Referring back to historic Map Shawl of Kashmir (circa 1860), it draws parallels between a militant-turned-craftsman’s personal journey within the broader context of Kashmir.

Kashmir Kollective is an independent group co-founded by Sidra Khawaja & Zafeer Butt that aims at humanizing the complex socio-political and cultural aspects of the Kashmir conflict in South Asia– a dynamic and volatile residue of the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent. Through exhibitions & screenings, the collective focuses on devising an alternative discourse as well as a constructive course of actions, thus reimagining an alternate peaceful future in the light of cultural and artistic traditions of the state.

Artists Bio:

• Sidra Khawaja is an interdisciplinary Kashmiri artist-designer. She employs a critical approach to investigate indigenous objects, symbols, food culture, rituals & communal practices of the region; extrapolating them to relate their vernacular visual language to the contemporary issues surrounding Kashmir. Her practice serves to record silent Kashmiri narratives and issues surrounding identity and representation, while divulging the overlooked cost of postcolonial nationalism.
• Zafeer Buttt is a multidisciplinary visual artist & filmmaker. He has a bachelor’s degree in film and television from the National College of Arts, Lahore (Pakistan). He has made short films, documentaries, video art, music videos, and theatre plays, representing the state of Kashmir at various international festivals in the United States, China, and India. His film ‘LOUG-THE PEOPLE’ has goten special recognition in over six countries. He conducts workshops on screenwriting, film acting, and film direction for underprivileged students of digital media.

This session is free and open to all. Just visit the venue to attend it.

The Black Hole
Plot 5H, Street 100, G-11/3, Islamabad.
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