In November 2023, I was selected to go on the Jhuley Lal Art Residency in the Sindh province in Pakistan. This three-week residency, organised by THISS Studio (UK) and Numaish Karachi (PK) and funded by the BritishCouncil, was focused on collaboration and revival of local craft economies.

The first project ‘Water Vessel’ was a collaboration with Shaukat Ali Kokhar, a conceptual artist from Pakistan and Oshaque Bablani and his family of timber craftsmen. Reflecting on themes of beauty, water, and fish as a metaphor for the journey that life is, we created a hand-carved table and inlaid vessel, inspired by the water coolers that are abundant in the streetscape of Pakistan.

The second project ‘Family Portrait’, is an installation engaging with the rich history of woodcarving in Shikarpur, a rural village in the Sindh Province. An assembly of old pieces of timber bought in the localscrapyards tells the story of time passing, rupture and traditions being lost and rediscovered again.

The last project focusses on the date palm,  the impoverished man’s material. Found abundantly in the Indus Valley, people use their leaves for crafting baskets and roofs, their trunks as pillars and beams in houses, their fruits and hearts as nutritional food. Working with the Shoaib Rhind village, a community of women who weave baskets, I designed these baskets to go on top of a plinth that is just a simple piece of tree trunk. The piece celebrates the versatility and resilience of certain overlooked materials.