Design and Illustration Portfolio

BUSHRA.SALEEM.C@GMAIL.COM

SELECTED WORKS 2019-2021

P O R T F O L I O MA D E BY B USHRA SA L E E M

I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list Susan Sontag

CONTENT Democracy

I LLUST RAT ION A ND ANIMAT ION CO M M ISSION ED PG.05

Just Rooms/ Noontime Stories

PG.11

PG.20

Thotspot/ Noontime

PG.21

Is Loneliness Static?

PG.22

Dream Bodies

PG.24

Where Do All The Other Bodies Go

Stories PG.12

Ajeeb Dunya/ Ajeeb

R ESEAR CH

Studios PG.13

Manifesto/ Acumen Academy

PG.14

A to Z of Feminism/ Aurat March Karachi

PG.16

Be Your Own Witch/ Mil Ke Chai

PG.18

Bekhudi/ Zahrah Paracha

PG.19

No Kisses Only Eyes & No Eyes Only Flowers / Media Matters For

Stars in the Same Sky/ Lahore Digital Arts Festival

Gender Disinformation/ Digital Rights Foundation

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I NDEPENDENT

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MAPPI NG T HE EV ERYDAY PRODUCT I O N O F GENDER I N KARACHI Spatial Production of Gender: Qandeel Baloch Community Centre for Women, University of Karachi Re-imagining Spaces for Women in the Gendered Fabric of Karachi: Frere hall, Karachi Dismantling the Everyday

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Production of Gender Through Mobility: Korangi Crossing, Karachi

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UR B AN OP EN SPACE Upscaling Communities Through Research, Policies and Bottom up Approach: Hazara Colony P U B LICATION S

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Her City and Her Stories/ Playground Centre For Transdisciplinarity, Design & Innovation S H O WS

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The Cartographer’s Desk / International Public Art Festival

E NT RE PRE NE UR SH IP PG.42

NO O N TIME STORIES

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G EN DER DIS IN FOR MATION / The brief was to create visuals for six papers on policies relating to gender disinformation for the Digital Rights’ Foundation. Each of the papers required a thorough reading to express the matter in a coherent illustration. I challenged the two dimensional nature as not a limiting factor but as an expansion realm in which I could explore the intangible ideas supported by theory.

+ CLIENT DIGITAL RIGHTS FOUNDATION, PAKISTAN + DATE OCT - DEC 2021

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The idea was to break free from the present graphic design work that often simplifies complex matter, making it bite sized for consumption. Instead, using geometry, free flowing lines, and vibrant colors to depict the multi faceted papers that are being published, keeping in mind that no work is finished and all artworks look like a work in progress. The same theme of build-up and continuity was applied to the layout of the report.

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In doing so, text and pieces of the illustration were used give clues about the paper, allowing readers to experience the temporality that every text consisted. Bright solid colored page breaks were used to mark the chapters and also to have a blank slate for readers to retreat to before starting another chapter. This was to counter the notion that reports can get very clinical and heavy on text which often makes them inaccessible to folks who are not academics.

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JUST R O OMS .

Calendar Layout and Illustrations The project brief was to develop visuals based on a few excerpts from Virginia Woolf’s journals, as well as Peter Zumthor’s interviews on architecture. The idea was to illustrate a piece that held true to the idea about rooms and the memories that physical spaces can hold for us.

No More Tears is my journey back to my childhood home’s bathroom. Playing with scale and how memories warp our perception of space, this bathroom was never huge but felt that way because of how little I was. It is also a deeper introspection into self reflection, meeting the inner child, using objects like shampoos with the title No More Tears, broken mirrors, cockroaches, and black water as symbols.

The second work titled Can I share Your Light is also a journey of finding a connection to my inner child and explore the things that brought them joy.

+ CLIENT NOONTIME STORIES + DATE OCT-DEC 2021

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T HOTS P OT (S ) The brief was to develop a notebook series with detailed illustrations that were inspired by places that people usually end up thinking in; the middle of a shower, commuting, walking, or washing dishes. Using holographic details focusing small dainty bits on the cover, the notebooks had a variety of dotted, lined, and plain pages that were saddle binded to make them thin and just right for everyday use.

+ CLIENT NOONTIME STORIES + DATE APR - JULY 2021

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A J E E B DUNYA The brief was to depict the various facets of Ajeeb Studio which operates as a marketing agency but also works on music videos, performance art pieces, workshops, and a clothing line for their website.

As an artist who is very keen on depicting worlds, I created Ajeeb Dunya to show the diversity of the team and what they do by imagining a city scape and their studio in it. I used vibrant colors from their works and shades of neon against the darker background as a way to enhance the cyber punk aesthetic the agency always had. Play was a very important part of the illustration process to keep the visuals whimsical and in tune with the aesthetic of their work. .

+ CLIENT AJEEB STUDIO + DATE SEP - NOV 2021

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ACUME N MANIF ESTO A N D F E LLOWS H IP The brief was to draw as the participants of the fellowship narrated their pitches for the selection round. Along with illustrating their ideas in an elaborate and engaging mindmap that was displayed live, I also illustrated the manifesto for ACUMEN Academy. The idea was to focus on the branch of the organization that was working for social change in Pakistan in an illustrative style that could be used on brochures, wall decals, and their website.

+ CLIENT ACUMEN ACADEMY + DATE JUN - AUG 2021

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A TO Z OF F EMINIS M The brief was to draw for a social media campaign for the official Aurat March of Karachi which is held on the 8th of March every year. The theme for the year was Patriarchal Violence and all the letters had to depict a letter along with a sub topic within the theme. The layout was made using the negative space as a border to keep the element of continuity alive since the letters were all interconnected to weave comic-like panels wherever they were posted. This was an exercise in learning the importance of representation, and focusing on symbols and markers to illustrate various communities in Pakistan. This was voluntary work.

+ CLIENT AURAT MARCH KARACHI + DATE MARCH 2021

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BE YOU R OW N W ITCH

+ CLIENT

Ten artists from the Global South were commissioned by Mil Ke Chai to create a meeting point of issues that were important to the artists. This was an opportunity for me to step away from rational and logical representation and delve in fiction, using magical realism as a space to hold my rage.

During the time Pakistan had three major protests about the safety of women and trans people in connection to three different gender based violence occurrencing in different cities in two weeks. Rooted in the contextual framework of Pakistan, the narrative and fictional aspects of healing are not well explored and I aimed to do that by taking inspiration from the layout of local newspapers. Given that the medium itself was going to be a published art paper, the ad-like quality of the work was to create a split second where imagination could rupture reality, and for a brief moment make the impossible seem possible.

My body and bodies of those like me have been grounds of violence so it made sense to create a vehicle, a broom that is similar to the Witch’s Flying Broom but also a very significant aspect of the domestic lives of women in my country that would allow women to fly. With a baby carrier and different sockets, nooks and hooks for keeping clothes, small weapons*.

MIL KE CHAI

*Spices, tasers, pepper spray. These were the things that

+ PUBLISHER RABBIT PRESS, UK

spilled all over the instagram ads during that particular + DATE

time which is a reflection of the intensity of the situation but

AUGUST, 2020

also how capitalism makes use of any opportunity it gets.

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B E K H U DI The brief for these illustrations was to hear the music and read through the lyrics which were very deeply intertwined with the artist’s life. The music video depicts a world that is run by women across classes and occupations as a young child who is getting lost on purpose is allowed to feel safe and welcome. Bekhudi is an urdu word that literally means without self. There is a sense of adventure, an elated experience of being an individual and also the pain of growing up that is a constant part of the song. The illustrations show a child with oranges lost in a park that vanishes on the horizon line to show an expansiveness that the world offers when one is young. The other illustration is a part of walking outwards, towards the city, letting go of the interiority of one’s mind, almost being forced to reach early adolescence, which is closely connected to Paracha’s story of losing touch with their elder brother and not having the support of an older sibling while growing up. The words taken from the lyrics are akele (alone), raasta (journey), khoj (quest), qadam (step/walk) and umeed (hope). I used these words as a constant backdrop to the illustrations to best encapsulate the ebb and flow of emotions throughout the song.

+ PUBLISHER SPOTIFY + CLIENT ZAHRA PARACHA (MUSICIAN, SONGWRITER AND COMPOSER) + DATE JAN - FEB 2021

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N O K I SSE S ONLY EY E S N O E Y E S O NLY F LOWERS (left to right) This project was part of a campaign titled 16 Days of Activism for MMFD, a non profit organization that focuses on media literacy, progress, and democracy in the digital realm. With constant news about lack of safety for non-men in Pakistan, including the various ways in which violence exists, the main idea was to depict a reality or a visual that would help people relate to the situation of gender based violence in the country. Given that popular media fails to highlight news that may affect the reputation of the country, the focus was to have an inclusive outcry. No Kisses Only Eyes and No Eyes Only Kisses are two instances; the former being the real world and the latter being an idealistic one. With drawings of clumsy androgynous humans, I aim to represent the terror that comes when one chooses to love loudly in the country. The eyes spread out like air, crawling on surfaces in a depiction of the gaze, the glare that anyone who chooses to not conform faces. Icons and symbols like blank traffic signals, knees touching under tables are all instances of confusion, dilemma, and anxieties that are attached to navigating romance in the city. The overall composition is fragmented, very much in tune with the experiences around these things.

An informal comic style was drawn to commend the narrative quality of the artwork. Inspired by the work of Felix Gonzales and his subtlety towards defying censorship, this work seeks inspiration from his method of using twin objects, parts of a whole to show bodies and love that is queer.

+ CAMPAIGN SIXTEEN DAYS OF ACTIVISM + CLIENT MEDIA MATTERS FOR DEMOCRACY + DATE OCT- NOV, 2020

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STARS IN THE SAME SKY This work is a brief and short insight into my feelings as a human. Realizing that existence is beyond the corporeal and the consumption of tonnes of information in today’s society has led us to believe that humans and relationships are simple objects in space and time. The amount of narrative around the ‘self’ in self care manufactures isolation, consequentially fracturing our relationship to everything outside of us.

This animation is inspired by the works of Audre Lorde and her theory suggesting that both ‘self’ and ‘love’ in self-love are political. Finding community, love, and care through brief virtual journeys is sometimes the kindest thing one can do for oneself.

Using sound as an important element, I added Alan Watts’ famous speech about love in the background which became the spine for the video. The visual language I have incorporated is influenced by the works of Marjana Satrapi in her graphic novels called Persepolis. The world building, narrative, and genre of her works and how seamlessly she traveled between years throughout her works is something I aimed to achieve in my work, using textures as a constant backdrop and relying on contrast as a primary design principle of storytelling.

This was exhibited online for Lahore Digital Arts Festival with a theme of post-reality.

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IS LON ELIN ESS STATIC This series was an exploration on loneliness specifically during the lockdown months of the year 2020. It looks into the themes of loneliness as a static ennui during a period of a global pandemic. It expresses isolation as a reflection of constant dissociation from the immediate environment, and experiencing the mundane in fragments. Fragments that often oscillate between what is real and what is unreal, with a constant juxtaposition between seeing life as a simulation.

All of the clips are inspired by theatrical optics of a spotlight being shed on my self portraits during everyday moments. Even the animation stands as a long loop of a still moment with little to no movement. The sounds that I used in these clips were recorded via smartphone and were snippets from my own surroundings.

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D REAM BODIES This is an unfinished series where I explore my interiority. The outside space has always defined my experiences but my interior landscapes, realms, and environments continue to be an echo of this outside world.

This particular series is a documentation of recurring dreams from my childhood, with characters that come

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in the form of different animals, that are also seen changing from being children to being forlorn adults. The lighter, happier, and magical atmospheres turn into a very charged, ruthless family portrait. Unlike my other work that is often two dimensional, flat, and rooted in breaking away from realism, these particular works tap into perspective and realism like pictures from another lifetime. It is an extension of the geography of isolation, loneliness, and relying on imagination and imaginary ‘friends’ to get by. This is a portrayal of my escapist tendencies as a child where I experienced myself in fragments, and coming to terms with that as a person today was compelling in the sense that I was forced to illustrate these images to hold that fickle-heartedness the young child had and make it tangible.

Much like the stories I read as a child that had happily ever afters but situated in darkness and ominous settings, these portraits belong to the duality of life and of those tales.

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W H E RE DO AL L T H E OTHER BODIES G O This is a series where I explore leaving home behind, and surrendering. Instead of drawing from memory that morphs, I experimented using captured images as a canvas. The pictures are from a trip to Hunza, Pakistan in 2021. The ever changing terrain and landscapes resonated with my spirit. Drawing on images was a way to challenge my own willingness to imagine and expand my vision as an artist by being one with the earth. During this particular time I was reading A Field Guide To Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit; her work allowed me to settle into the unknown without fear, befriend it even. She speaks about how getting lost is not a matter of geography as much as it is about becoming no one and anyone. This led me to thinking about where one goes to become nobody and anybody and finding that meant getting lost. To make a truce with the world, as a wayfarer, barefoot and invisible, these drawings explore scale and queerness in what is natural and what feels safe. Having a sense of home that is fraught with fear and anxiety, the self portraits in these works are a response to healing and my ability to do so for myself. To look for myself in the gaps, cracks and crevices that are constantly forming. This work is rooted around growth, rebirth, and self acceptance and accepting destruction as an outcome of letting go and with being at home with being lost. Performing mundane tasks like resting, thinking, and walking in the wilderness as a way to portray that bodies are more than what we imagine them to be. The title is a rhetorical question about simply finding ways to assert my body in the spaces that I occupy.

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M A P P I N G T H E E V E RY DAY P R O D U CT ION OF GENDER I N KA RAC H I The following works are a compilation of the academic research I did for my mini thesis, dissertation, and final architecture thesis over a period of fifteen months as partial fulfiment of requirmement for the degree of Bachelor of Architecture at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi.

A BST RACT My interaction and relationship with the public sphere of Karachi has changed drastically as I grew from a child into an adult.It is crucial to identify if this experience of the public realm - that is fraught with the anxiety and fear of being visible-resonates on a larger scale. Our relationship with the outside and the public goes beyond the corporeal. In the last three decades, social theorists have succeeded in establishing gender as a stable category of analysing and problematising societies.

Simultaneously, theorists and feminists have deconstructed the word ‘gender’ as to how it is widely perceived, and accepted it as relational only to a person’s sex (anatomy at birth, male, female, intersex).

When one talks about space, it is often thought of as a medium in which humans exist; this medium can reflect the social, architectural, and cultural beliefs of a place. Sociologist Henri Lefebvre breaks down the space which is lived in as the social space where relationships are conceived. This research builds upon the work of feminist scholar Shilpa Phadke, who has written about the experience of living in the city of Mumbai; a context similar to Karachi in terms of societal expectations from women. Phadke uses the word loiter to describe the act of occupying public space for pleasure - a concept alien to women. She brings up questions about concocting reasons to be outdoors, or rather, to be free and to be able to saunter aimlessly in the city. A study such as this is valuable not for the mere purpose of creating an archive, but to evaluate social and physical factors that are behind these movement patterns. It also provides specialists, especially architects and urban planners,the tools to engage with social theory and develop an interdisciplinary practice.

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S I T E S O F R ESE ARCH , MAP P IN G AND D E S I G N: 1. Spatial Production of Gender/ University of Karachi/ Mini Thesis/ Aug- Dec 2018

2. Re-imagining Spaces for Women in the Gendered Fabric of Karachi/ Frere Hall/ Final Research Paper/ Jan- April 2019

3. Dismantling the Everyday Production of Gender Through Mobility/ Final Year Thesis/ Jan- Dec 2019

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SPAT I A L P RODU CTION OF GE N -

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DER: QA ND E E L B ALOCH COMMU N ITY CE NT R E FO R WOME N , U N IVE RSI TY O F KA RACHI The two main prompts I was constantly building up on were walking and pausing. Karachi University, a public university that expands over 1200 acres of land, is one of the oldest and most sought for educational institutions in the city with its female population ranging from sixty to seventy percent. With its modern and brutalist architecture it became a single point of analysis for me to study, as a microcosm/micro context which could be used to further study the entire city.

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My main focus was to identify the informal routes of walking people take, the informal pause spaces that women take instead of the designated ones, and using those as vector points of intervention. The research was observation centric and required me to conduct lengthy site visits and learning from the experience of walking and roaming around on campus.

In this project the intervention was a community center for women on a campus where most recreational facilities were for men. This center had a day care facility, a masjid, a library/working space, mini auditorium, a public bathroom for women, and a courtyard. This particular program was developed by finding out the multiple facilties that were lacking for majority of the student population and providing that in the center of the campus where the footfall was the heaviest.

The architecture design took inspiration from the natural walking patterns and the orientation of the wind, both of which aligned with the pre existing trees on site.

The center was named after Qandeel Baloch, one of the victims of honor killings who was humiliated for her freedom, her expression, and willingness to be her true self in a context that shirks and destroys the idea of a free woman. Which aligned perfectly with a university being exactly the kind of place where everything Baloch stood for should be encouraged and honored.

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R E - I M AG I N I N G SPACES FOR W O M E N I N THE GEN DE RE D FAB R I C O F KA RACHI: FR E R E H A L L, KARACHI

To gain an in-depth analysis on the relationship that women have with the built environment in an urban context, it is important to identify clear parameters to propose a framework of study.

Site selection: Frere Hall, Karachi: With its colonial history that dates back to the 19th century, this building was supposed to act as a town hall. Frere Hall possesses large parks and is a widely-accessed space. It has also been a historic landmark in the city.

Analysing the park while keeping in mind the daily practices and the physical dynamics of it changing during the Aurat March for equality, gave me the opportunity to dissect political acts within the extremely patriarchal urban fabric of the city.

The mapping conducted helps understand factors like entry and exits, surveillance, visibility, routes, and sitting spaces; tangible and intangible factors that affect gender behaviour in public spaces. This method does not promise to provide concrete answers or solutions but its aim is to start a gender-space documentation of Karachi to create a theoretical understanding of it according to feminist academics.

Walking while is a physical form of activism, building and creating spaces is also a form of activism that when tested will prove its limitations but it will provide a form of discourse that is missing in our context.

This however does not ignore that the unconditional claim to public space will only be possible when everyone can walk the streets without having to perform or demonstrate purpose or respectability, for the access of public space to women is fundamentally linked to the access of all citizens. The litmus test of right to public space if the right to loiter, especially for women across classes. To be able to loiter without meaning, without being asked to validate their presence, alone or together.

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D I S M A N T L I NG TH E EVERY DAY P R ODUCT I O N O F G E N D E R THROU GH MOB ILITY: KO RA N G I C ROSSIN G The final thesis was an amalgamation of everything I had learned through the previous projects in the realm of Gender and the Built Environment. Scaling up this time, to a very wide urban area that had a compelling background in terms of diversity in classes, early onset of industrialization in Karachi, and had people belonging to multiple religions. I used studies about people walking, especially women, the patterns they use, and the occupations they have as women, mothers, students, and professionals, and how all of that affects the way they move through the city. Finishing this research and design thesis over a period of one year allowed the site analysis to build over a period of four to five months. I studied the various factors that affect the urban life of places like footfall, bus stops, public amenities, pavements, traffic lights, and street furniture.

Using Korangi Crossing as a site was a challenge and highly beneficial to put the research to use by understanding that design can be used as a catalyst to change. By visualizing it using isometric drawings instead of flat two dimensional aerial drawings to see the various social, physical and intangible layers that make up the city, I was able to identify specific points where interventions could be made.

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I used the nighbourhood as a realm of change, but also as a spine against which or around which architecture could be most functional and sensible, marking informal routes of walking and setting them against the built roads and alleys which were not used. This helped identify why cities are failing us as they are built for vehicles and not pedestrians. The demographic in this area consisted of working women whose schedules surrounded their childrens’ and husbands’.

Applying the various rules of surveillance that apply in a complicated city where visibilty can be both good and dangerous was the primary case in this project, alongside using the pause spaces as the most natural places of intervention that fell in the path of these pedestrians that were mostly women.

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The site research required me to build diagrams that mapped pedestrian traffic; the most dominant feature of the site was a bridge and its columns directed a vast amount of the flow in the area. I calculated walking distances and conducted questionnaires to better understand the study of proxemics and how they differ from one social setting to another. This allowed me to get a better grip over the factors that would dictate the design.

Once these tools were put in place plugging the design was a seamless task. Having a process where the program, user, and design all informed one another to make the experience of the city for the pedestrian, better.

Women and their lack of mobility/access to vehicles makes them the majority of pedestrian traffic and therefore one of the primary groups that need public amenities like bathrooms, outdoor sitting spaces, wider pavements for women who walk in groups or with children mostly.

The design ideology was based on understanding what it meant to pause going from a public area to a quieter neighborhood area in one region. These pauses had to be encounters and moments that fell within walking paths and that provided some kind of relief or ease to the users.

The bus stop was an open space for everyone to access with safety ramps and vendor stalls for women who wished to sell food. Along with this, a bathroom for women was added, since there were dhaabas nearby, a public bathroom for men and two masjids with accessible bathrooms for men.

The bathroom was also designed keeping children in mind, since women of all age groups often had children with them. With an undulating tesselated roof that spanned in the direction of the wind using the rules of triangulation, the structure was made of materials that played with opacity and greenery to provide that brief moment with nature within the design.

The pause had to be an oasis of sorts.

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The second intervention was adding street furniture, pathways, and street lights in the long rectangular plot that was used as a primary shortcut connecting the two neighborhoods, making it accessible at night as well. The third intervention was right at the deeper end of the site which was settled snugly between a semi commercial area of mechanics and hardware shops, schools and colleges for girls, a madrassah, and a chapel. This allowed me to apply the same user centric design model and rules to build on the pre existing activities on site. Street food vendors who were mostly walking because there was no proper place for pedestrians or vendors to gather. There was also a trampoline where kids were often gathered on and around and women would naturally gravitate towards that spot because of the public and the safety that comes with respectability politics around being a ‘mother’.

This design mostly developed through landscaping and using undulating earth as a means to build privacy, and various activities for children and women on every level. I used the least amount of enclosing walls since the easiest way to design a space for women traditionally has been about building a box for them to inhabit which defeats the idea of reclaiming the city. This allowed me to challenge the notion of pausing for leisure, especially for women. Additionally, swings were provided for women in this area within translucent panels that were open ended; these swings were a part of the existing home typology within the area where outdoor swings were prominent where women would often gather around for their evening meetings or committees.

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U R BAN OPEN SPACE: U PLIFTIN G IN FOR MAL SETTLEMEN TS THR OU G H POLICY AN D DESIGN This was a semester long group project focusing on urban open space. Each group was given an informal settlement in Karachi as a research site. Following that, students were expected to conduct site visits, interviews, collaborate with the residents of those areas and conduct an architectural analysis of the homes within the settlements.

We had to streamline each neighbourhood and develop strategies and policies of change and upliftment emplying architectural theories around bottom up approach for community upliftment.

My part in this project was to plan meetings, trips and other logitiscal details, including writing the final report and a five year plan along with another colleague. I also played an important role in designing policies and the urban planning of the site we had chosen, specifically in relation to my thesis project which was conducted on an urban level.

According to the project requirements and after an in-depth analysis of the colony it became clear that any interventions must be sensitive to the existing conditions. The re-envisioning of the neighborhood is contingent on facilitating and not obstructing the existing social and economic fabric of the colony. Due to the density of the colony and its intricate socio-spatial dynamic, the interventions that are proposed must be minimal, socially and economically sustainable. Simultaneously, they must also produce a large change in the living conditions of the colony. An elaborate five year plan for maximum change scenario was developed by the team keeping time and cost constraints in mind.

The plan was broken down into weeks, months, and years starting from 2019. It then subdivided into the goals that were to be achieved and how they could be executed simultaneously.

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H E R C I TY AND H ER STO R I E S , RES EARC H RE P O RT JA N UA RY - DEC E MBER 2020 Her City, Her Stories is part of the design research program launched in 2019 at the Playground: Transdisciplinary Design & Innovation Lab, at Habib University. This is a student-lved project that uses a range of design research methodologies, including human centered design to explore and document women’s real-life experiences with mobility in Karachi. The research participants of this study were women within the age bracket of 16 - 30 years, from various socio-economic backgrounds, who usually traveled independently around the city. This was a comprehensive research which examined the various different transport modes available to women in the city, to better understand the relationship between the two. Comparative studies were also conducted to see how the issues faced by women in Karachi fare against issues faced by women in other South Asian cities.

Finally, using the insights gained from these, the study explored different ways of imagining and speculating about possible interventions and recommendations for a brighter future of the city, centered around the themes of gender and mobility in the context of Karachi, Pakistan.

One of the defining features of modern urban centers is the ease with which its inhabitants can travel in it and how its citizens rate it in terms of mobility and accessibility. With the rapid urbanization and growth of megacities that has defined the 21st century, mobility and transport networks have become one of the primary indicators of the quality of life of cities. In the context of Karachi, it is one of the 34

megacities of the world with a population of approximately 16 million people and it is also ranked as having the worst public transport system globally. The lack of reliable modes of travel translates into the lack of accessibility and mobility of the city’s more marginalized citizens, especially women, which was one of the main questions this research explored. This research was led by a transdisciplinary group of students and practitioners coming from the disciplines of social development and policy, communication and design, computer science, architecture and urban design. The collaborative nature of the project allowed the team to cover various tangible and intangible barriers such as societal norms, safety & security concerns, and limited modes of transport, that hinder women while they try to navigate their city. The link between lack of mobility and mental and physical health of citizens, as well as their access to educational and employment opportunities was also examined.

One of the primary aims of this research was to create a safe space for women where they could voice and share the issues they face, validate their concerns, and given a chance to dream of better futures. All the insights and information collected from this research allowed the team to formulate a set of recommendations which could be useful for designing Karachi’s future urban policies through a gender-sensitive lens.

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TH E C A RTOGRAPH E RS DESK An installation or a mini museum set up for display at the International Public Arts Festival. This specific work was curated to mimic the desk of a cartographer. Keeping the setting in mind which was an architecture university campus located in Saddar, one of the primary spots of Karachi’s colonial history and heritage buildings, it became important for me to rupture the narrative around the area and use it as a means to introduce a different kind of dialogue when talking about the city. The title of the show was ‘Karachi Ki Khoj’ which translates to Looking for Karachi.

My work revolved around the mapping methods and techniques that have been taught to me, which are often reductive in nature since two dimensional mapping can simplify geography to an extent that a place becomes neutral.

This kind of mapping makes design counterproductive. It was also important for me to identify the nature of walking as a political statement in various spheres of life and using a ‘public’ map format to talk about the gendered spaces we walk through on a daily basis. This table had overlapping tracing sheets and archival papers that had observations,

maps, drawings, and pictures of women occupying a famous public spot in Karachi, Frere Hall.

This was a beginning point for me to begin the discourse around mapping the city from a gender and class perspective, and presenting it in a format that can be educational for everyone. A zine was also presented along with the maps and signboard, filled with hand written observations, journal entries and interviews/ conversations with people at Frere Hall and other practitioners whose work and study on urban lives have inspired my work.

NO O NT IME STORIE S Noontime: is a feeling, a state, a time of comfort, care, and creativity.

At Noontime Stories, we focus on reviving the significance of design and print; an art that is slowly fading. Our aim is not limited to just creating premium quality products but pays heed to the soft details of the user experience and the intimacy with which we make our crafts. This feeling of noontime lies at the heart of every step of our production process, and is very importan as we are slowly growing into a platform that is organic and sustained by us along with the people who provide us with unwavering support.

Established in December 2019, Noontime Stories is a journey of Art and Product Design, managed by two people, wanderers and friends.

Bushra Saleem is an illustrator, researcher, and graphic designer with a B. Arch degree.

Rida Zaidi is a children’s book illustrator and designer with a B. Arch degree.

The returns of this business have been endless when it comes to the skills, on site learning, and interpersonal skills it has helped me build. From renting a studio, gaining the finances to manage a space and outsource help and vendors, this has been a space of acquainting myself with the informal culture and knowledge that makes various markets unique in Karachi. All the while always looking to collaborate with like-minded people and expanding our practice by delving in various forms of art that are not limited to just print but go as far as painting murals, product design using both wood and canvas. Noontime Stories is not just an online business but stocks their items in various artisan shops in both Karachi and Lahore and are constantly building a recurring clientele.

PG. 43

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