28 Dec, 2011

departure…

Sehba Sarwar
28 Dec, 2011

I head to Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport on December 27, the death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto, who was murdered four years ago. Buildings and cars were set on fire that day as the country shut down to mourn. Check my blog entries from December 2007: – 2:00 pm, Friday,...

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26 Dec, 2011

a trip to rural sindh…

Sehba Sarwar
26 Dec, 2011

I catch a ride to villages outside of the rural township of Sujawal with architect Shahid Khan, CEO of Indus Earth Trust, an NGO that’s working with the coastal rural communities in Sindh and Balochistan. Shahid Khan is training villagers to reconstruct new hutments using indigenous materials after the...

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22 Dec, 2011

protecting space…

Sehba Sarwar
22 Dec, 2011

On an afternoon visit to the shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi, Karachi’s patron saint, I am not surprised that we have to go through a security gate, or that the main road outside the building is surrounded by barbed wires. Inside a stall at the entrance where women had...

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20 Dec, 2011

memories…

Sehba Sarwar
20 Dec, 2011

I always enjoy visiting the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi. Today, I spend some time with Tazeen Hussain, who will be helping out with VBB spring living room art productions. As I leave the building, I visit the IVS Alumni exhibition and walk through the...

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18 Dec, 2011

daily living

Sehba Sarwar
18 Dec, 2011

We go for a walk late at night at General’s Park. I always cringe when we name the park — Pakistan certainly has a strong history with generals, and to stamp that name upon a great space for families, kids, and multiple activities is a sad reminder of our...

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16 Dec, 2011

taking off again…

16 Dec, 2011

I’ve landed in Karachi after a fairly painless 24-hour journey. I fly out of Houston Intercontinental Airport’s Mickey Leland international terminal. At the security gates and am asked to raise my arms so guards can take a full body x-ray. This is the first time I’ve had to undergo...

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12 Nov, 2011

ideas are bullet-proof…

Sehba Sarwar
12 Nov, 2011

  Graffiti along Allen Parkway.

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31 Oct, 2011

another minal-ism

31 Oct, 2011

Minal stares at a pink bag in a grocery store. She reads the words: Buy me now. Save Texas – purchase your own grocery bag. She turns to me. “Actually, you can save the world if you don’t cut trees.”

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19 Sep, 2011

art and rain…

Sehba Sarwar
19 Sep, 2011

Minal and I start out the day by attending the Houston Fine Art Fair, where we see exhibition booths set up by galleries around the US. One of the highlights for Minal is an inflated sculpture by William Cannings which she can actually touch. We spend the second half...

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07 Sep, 2011

morning meanderings with minal

07 Sep, 2011

I love the early hours when I drop off Minal to school. She always has new philosophies that she’s exploring, and we manage to cover a large terrain during our 12-minute drive. Today, she asks me, “Ammi, is there a king in China?” I respond with my standard question...

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31 Aug, 2011

eid on hillcroft

Sehba Sarwar
31 Aug, 2011

This year, Minal participates in Chand Raat festivities. We meet friends at Hillcroft, and Minal gets mehndi on her palms. On Eid itself, I cook up a feast, and Minal collects both rupees and dollars for eedhi.

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21 Aug, 2011

gearing up for VBB’s season opener

Sehba Sarwar
21 Aug, 2011

We are gearing up for VBB’s season opener. The flinging of my chappals across the electric wires on Dowling Street is the formal launch of the project. Don’t miss the show – October 22, 2011.

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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.