Home > Events > CISA Presents: "Between the Temple and the Playground: Recent works by Naiza Khan"

CISA Presents: "Between the Temple and the Playground: Recent works by Naiza Khan"

A Lecture by Naiza Khan

Wednesday, October 19, 2011
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
10383 Bunche Hall
UCLA

Manora Island, just off the coast of Karachi has a history of a defense fort facing the Arabian Sea. The presence of different religious buildings points to a multi-religious social fabric that once existed on this island. I have been recording the transformation of Manora through photography, video, text and now performance as a strategy for intervention in the public space. The nature of my investigation lies in the social dynamics of this community, and its relationship to the nature of Sufi myth and allegory that is part of the history of this area. The everydayness of this historic, yet non-elite space possesses a different texture from the modernizing urban metropolis of Karachi. Yet on a quieter scale, it evokes the same sense of history, urban decay and transformation that Karachi is undergoing, and which includes issues of gender in public space and disenfranchisement of the less privileged.