Suspended Identity – Adhoori Shanakht – ادھوری شناخت

Adhoori Shanakht (Suspended identity) is an online exhibit showcasing the work of children and teenagers from Khel School in Machar Colony, Karachi. Many of these children and their families face issues of statelessness. The images come from a series of arts-based workshops in Spring 2022 which the young people participated in. Artists Amani Noor and Ahsan Javaid co-led these workshops with POI team members. During the workshops, the young people talked about the environment, their experiences of living in the Machar colony and by the coast, the citizenship challenges they face, their identity, and their hopes for the future. The workshops ended with an exhibition at the school attended by community members.

Have a watch of the short film below to learn more:

Images by Humera Iqbal, Nabiha Rehan, Abdullah Khan & Arooj Aurangzeb

Me and my Dream – led by Amani Noor and Ahsan Javaid

Here all the children were asked to create a self-portrait in the format of an identity card photograph. Older children (11- 19 years) created another image of based on their hopes for the future. Younger children (8-10 years) were asked to create an image of an object or person most important to them.

My Neighbourhood – A Pottery Workshop led by Amani Noor

In this workshop young people aged 8-10 took part in a collective discussion and exercise about their neighbourood. The discussion also captured some of the knowlege children had relating to the sea and fishing (the school is near the coast of Karachi). This included tales of Jalparis (mermaids) and sea monsters!  Following the discussion and tutorial by our artist, the young people painted ceramic pots capturing on them some of the themes we discussed that were most relevant to their own lives

The Exhibition – Machar Colony