Chapter 4

 Is he asleep on the sofa or on carpet?

Carpet, Nani.

Hmm look at that! Look how he’s kissing the dog.

Grandma they’re dogs for the blind.

Hmmmm.

He’s blind, grandma.

That man?

Jee.

The dog helps him cross the road and stuff.

Hmm, he helps him?

Jee.

Hmm, ok.

 

Extract from my book...more to come soon :)

Chapter 3

 

Salaam* Mum.

Salaam, have you come back from college?

Jee*.

Ok, get it done because we need to get you sorted.

Mum, don’t say stuff like that, you know I get all depressed and everything!

You only use that as an excuse.

No I don’t Mum. Why do you always bring this up at the wrong time? For fuck sake, you always say all this at the wrong time. How many times do I have to tell you?!

I was only joking and you took it the wrong way.

No you weren’t joking Mum, I know.

Ok, ok.

My Latest Work

The story behind this poster emphasises the role of the male and female within the South Asian culture. Growing up in a Pakistani family I recognised that there were differences between the two genders. This is portrayed in the poster by the position of the word man, which illustrates the dominance of male figures within the society. The word is overly decorated and surrounded by intricate pattern, which in my view reflects the importance of the male. On the other hand I feel that the women hold less power which is why I have placed the word woman (oarat) below the word man with minimal patterns surrounding it.

Artist Statement

As a young British Pakistani Muslim female I have experienced an interesting upbringing and my practice has become influenced by this. My British culture has allowed me to experience the western world enabling me to express myself. Britain has seen many changes throughout the decades and has taken a giant leap into expressing equality in gender, race, sexuality and religion with only the backlash of very small minorities. Britain isn’t perfect but it has bought to light the difference between itself compared to the developing country that my upbringing has had major influence from. Pakistan is still growing. Many conflicts exist within the societies that are not being as challenged as much as I feel they should be. I have grown up understanding the difference of the roles male and females play within Pakistani culture. In comparison to western society where men and women are seen to be equal, some Pakistani societies show a clear difference between male and female equality. Men are solely seen as the bread winners and women as child bearing housewives. Although I am seeing some changes within the Pakistani culture I feel that this is an area that needs to be challenged further. In addition to this my work has begun to take a critical view of social, political and cultural issues.

My work represents my personal view. I am not expressing views by others or stating that this is what others are thinking.

I'm a Fine Art student and as part of my work I am currently collecting stories based of the lives of British South Asian women. I myself am of Pakistani ethnicity and so far I have been basing my work on myself but now I am wanting to gather different perspectives. The stories can range from happy and funny to sad and upsetting. The reason for this is to show the world what it is like to be a British South Asian woman in this day and age. To show how our rich culture has influenced us as well as the pitfalls of it.
Everything will remain anonymous and the stories (with your permission) will be published into a book.
If you have any further questions or want to send your story and be apart of this project please send an email to: ofthemysteriousvoice@hotmail.co.uk