02 May, 2013

24 hours in austin….

Sehba Sarwar
02 May, 2013

I meet up with my Macondo friends Liliana Valenzuela and Vicente Lozano and we go pay homage to Patti Smith, who offers a sold-out concert at Stubb’s BBQ. After the concert, we hang out on Sixth Street, but when I return to my car, I discover my car has...

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06 Apr, 2013

more thoughts about the family that lives under pierce elevated…

06 Apr, 2013

Today, on our way back to our house, Minal points out to laundry laid out behind some bushes right off the freeway, as we enter Pierce Elevated, heading south. “Those belong to the woman that lives under the bridge,” she tells me. “You know, the one that has the...

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31 Mar, 2013

natural art…

Sehba Sarwar
31 Mar, 2013

Minal explores leaves, sawdust and tree bark in our patio and serves up some vegetarian meals that substitute as art installations.

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09 Mar, 2013

another minal-ism…

09 Mar, 2013

Driving together is when I hear Minal’s wisdom. Perhaps this is when she slows down and has time to respond to the world around her. Today she says: Ammi, I think the kids of today will save the world! – What do you mean? – When we grow up,...

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15 Feb, 2013

a visit to portland state university…

Sehba Sarwar
15 Feb, 2013

Hosted by a graduate art student, Erica Thomas, I spend two nights in Portland, visiting Harrell Fletcher’s graduate program Engaging a Community Through Art project with Portland State University, where students select artsits to visit their campus and respond to an informal question and answer session as well as...

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Why do women work so hard?

– Why do women work so hard here? Minal asks me over dinner. – What do you mean? I ask. – Because women are always working and they don’t seem to get paid well – and it’s the same in Pakistan and here, she replies. We talk about the...

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14 Jan, 2013

when kohl-kajal becomes a weapon…

Sehba Sarwar
14 Jan, 2013

I’ve written many blog entries about airport security, but this afternoon at La Guardia Airport is surreal. The first time my red carryon goes through the security checkpoint, the guard calls for a fellow guard to open it out and examine my content. A woman security guard, who happens...

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returning from the rio grande…

Sehba Sarwar

Lights flash as we approach the rectangular building sitting alone in the desert amidst hot land and cactus. Wearing green pants & shirts, they stand and inform us: We are border patrol. One officer leads their dog around our car as we answer standard questions: – born in the...

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01 Jan, 2013

“the window” at big bend…

Sehba Sarwar
01 Jan, 2013

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08 Dec, 2012

after the production

Sehba Sarwar
08 Dec, 2012

I stare at at bedcovers, rugs, saris, and other fabrics that I’ve been collecting and wearing for years. Even today, a week, later, I haven’t found the energy to unravel the cloth and rugs or to pick up the wisps of grass flitting on our floors.

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03 Dec, 2012

VBB’s video-dome…

03 Dec, 2012

It takes me an hour to collect all the fabrics, rugs, cushions, curtains, and saris from my home to pile them into my car so I can take them to Freedmen’s Town for VBB’s Homes and Histories production. At 10 am, Shadi, Carmen, Ariana, Angela, and i begin winding...

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19 Nov, 2012

another minal-ism…

19 Nov, 2012

Another Minal-ism: So everything you read in the news isn’t the truth? She’s been listening to René and me talk about western news coverage of he Israeli bombings on Gaza. When I was eight, I wasn’t so astute.

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I was inspired to begin my blog when I visited the library at my alma mater, Mount Holyoke College, and saw a framed photograph of my friends and me calling for divestment of funds from South Africa.

In 2007,  I began a blog when I visited my alma mater and saw a framed photograph of my friends and me calling for divestment of funds from South Africa. I use the blog to document my movement between spaces, Houston, Karachi, Delhi, Dhaka, Los Angeles and elsewhere, recording observations, images and conversations. Here, I document the multiple realities that I inhabit – writer, artist, mother, activist, educator, and transnational. Interviews from my blog were exhibited at Houston’s Baker Ripley Community Center (2014) and at Houston Public Library in downtown (2015). My papers are archived at the University of Houston’s library.