Category: travels

more sevilla


more sevilla. so the city was a major center in al-andalus under muslim rule from 711 to 1248 CE. hence the gorgeous tiles and mosaics, arches and minarets, courtyards and fountains. the excessive catholic presence in every bit of the old city seems to be pushback against this history. some of it is quite literal, e. g. the almohad mosque was converted into the seville cathedral – its bell tower (the giralda) used to be the minaret of the old mosque. i felt this pushback in portugal too, where i was told by a well-read guide that the arab history portugal claims has nothing to do with present day arabs (they are the descendants of the same arabs he so admires of course) and where a younger guide who took me to sintra and cascais couldn’t stop fawning over the knights templar because they saved portugal (by massacring muslims). feels like a bizarre fragmentation of collective identity

hola sevilla!


didn’t sleep a wink last night (not an exaggeration) so was up nice and early and ready for our train trip. got to madrid-puerta de atocha-almudena grandes about an hour before our departure and was horrified to see the entrance to the station jam-packed with throngs and throngs of people waiting, like 10,000 of them. apparently signaling cables were stolen over the weekend which led to massive delays on high speed trains. we had to stand outside the building for an hour or more as countless journalists and their crews interviewed frustrated travelers. finally made it to our destination although two hours later.

hola sevilla, u flamboyant one. the tiles u see are all located within 1-2 meters, just around the threshold of our room

goya at the prado museum

we hadn’t set an alarm and were shocked to wake up at 1pm today (jet lag and all that). late start to the day so dashed off to the prado museum – the met of madrid. too huge to see their entire collection/ exhibitions in detail but was completely floored by goya’s black paintings. these were painted between 1820-23 on the walls of goya’s two-storey house (quinta del sordo) on the outskirts of madrid when he was already in his 70s. the paintings reflect goya’s despair and cynicism and were never meant for public consumption. ‘saturn devouring his son’ is disturbingly violent but tbh the images and stories coming out of gaza are no less terrible and seem to be within the scope of human barbarity. ‘asmodea’ with the two figures floating over a landscape is so modern in its proportions and composition that it took my breath away. ‘the fates’ has some of the same energy. ‘the dog’ is equally incredible in how it’s composed and the layers of dark burnished gold that form its background. this series of 14 murals/ paintings is irresistible, magnetic, mysterious. also love el greco. the symbolism and elongated figures with the endlessly long fingers and lean muscles remind me of sadequain. another thing that jumped out at me was the use of a beautiful green one doesn’t find in too many other paintings from the same period. while i reveled in art, my daughter explored vintage stores and was not disappointed. we had lunch/ dinner on the rooftop of a restaurant covered in ivy (el viajero) and some dessert at be beirut which is owned by a palestinian family

peacocks at el retiro


even though we got here today and took a small nap before going out, we walked a lot – around the royal palace, along the gran via (known as the spanish broadway), in the atocha neighborhood where we are based, and finally in el retiro park which belonged to the spanish monarchy until 1868 and where everything is blooming. stunning architecture everywhere, tons of greenery and open community spaces, perfect weather and good food, but what i loved most were the peacocks at el retiro. i’ve seen gorgeous peacocks before (most memorably in choa saidan shah in pakistan and at jardim da estrela in lisbon), but this was something else. a full-on soap opera with screeching matches between male peacocks vying for the same female and some surprisingly aggressive shaking of feathers and hot pursuit. nature is bizarre and remarkable at the same time. found these secondhand booksellers close to el retiro and one of them talked at length with my daughter in spanish (so proud!). for dinner went to KA restaurant 6 min’s walk from our hotel for some reliable thai – the food was next level delish. it was a good day 🙂

Return to Sender is coming to Islamabad

I am thrilled to announce that my film, Return to Sender, will be screened in Islamabad as part of the Margalla Film Festival on Feb 16th! It’s always an honor to present my work in Pakistan and engage with people in the Global Majority. I will give a short artist talk and we will have a convo afterwards of course. I went to high school in Islamabad so it’s an important part of my life and journey. The venue for the film festival and my screening is the Black Hole, a wonderful space that invites discussions on art, culture, science, and politics. They have already shown A Thin Wall, my film about the partition of India, so I look forward to working with them again. Thank you Osama Malik for being such a brilliant organizer and for supporting my work. Friends, if you are in Islamabad, pls join us – this event is free and open to the public!

Going to Lahore

Going to Lahore for three weeks in February, but one needs a lifetime to explore its rich history and culture. It was the capital of the Mughal Empire under Akbar and later, like Paris, became home to some of South Asia’s best known writers and intellectuals. They would congregate at Pak Tea House, the birthplace of the Progressive Writers’ Association and its left wing politics. Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ibn-e-Insha, Ahmed Faraz, Saadat Hasan Manto, Sahir Ludhianvi, Amrita Pritam, Munshi Premchand, Krishan Chander, Ismat Chughtai, Muneer Niazi, Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Habib Jalib, Kaifi Azmi, Intezar Hussain, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Ustad Amanat Ali Khan and many more. What would it have been like to live in Lahore in those days.

Watched a beautiful video of NCA by @maliknaveedpgotography:

Different Views of National College of Arts in Lahore

The institute was originally founded in 1876 as the Mayo School of Industrial Arts and was one of the two arts colleges established by the British in British India. It was named in honor of the British Viceroy Lord Mayo. Kipling became the school’s first principal and was also appointed as the first curator of the Lahore Museum which opened the same year in an adjacent building. In 1958, the school was renamed the National College of Arts and Mian Barkat Ali was appointed principal. [The brilliant NYC-based artist Shahzia Sikander is from NCA]

trip to ohio

drove to kent, ohio, this weekend to be with family and celebrate the life of our khalajaani, dureshehwar aziz khan. what a blessing to spend time with my cousins and their families including wonderful nieces and nephews. what a privilege to drive there with my brother and nephew (6 hours for them, 8 hours for me) and experience such precious moments together. on to the next generation – may they find support and kinship in one another. got back to long island just in time this morning, it’s snowing now.

Freedom for Palestine in Copenhagen

Everywhere we went in Copenhagen, but particularly in Norrebro, there were beautiful signs/ symbols of people’s love for Palestine. These are just a few pictures, I could have taken photos all day. Whatever the wretched politicians of the West (and some of their puppet regimes in the global south) might say or do, the vast majority of people want justice and freedom for Palestine

Repair as architectural ethos

From THE GREAT REPAIR MOVES NORTH, an exhibition at the Form/Design Center in Malmo, Sweden, which focuses on the conflict between ecological balance and uncontrolled growth and advocates a new architectural ethos centered around repair. What we are seeing in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and other parts of the world is not just an attempt to exterminate people but also entire knowledge worlds.

Fish & Chips, the Form/Design Center and NY Cheesecake in Malmo

Last day in Malmo: Crispiest fish and chips outside of Borough Market (London) at Bla Hoddans Fisk och Rokeri; two wonderful exhibitions at the Form/Design Center which included THE GREAT REPAIR MOVES NORTH

(sheds light on the conflict between ecological balance and uncontrolled growth and advocates a new architectural ethos centered around repair – they even talked about decolonizing knowledge so obviously I loved it) and FESTIVITAS (a tribute to Swedish crafts where they highlighted weaving and the importance of the warp & weft!); a visit to Apoteket Lejonet – the city’s oldest pharmacy (still in business) with an art-nouveau interior (carved wooden shelves, antique medicine bottles and a glass-plated ceiling); and finally, the best NY cheesecake in town (in the world?) with white chocolate shavings on top at Café Pronto

Malmöhus Slott, Lilla Torg and Stortorget

Yesterday’s adventures in Malmo: Malmöhus Slott – the moated castle that houses the Malmo Museum; the City Library with its contemporary architecture and glass-enclosed, naturally lit space (while I charged my phone, I found an anthology of Tagore’s work which starts with The Post Office); Lilla Torg – a square that dates back to 1592 (some buildings signal its medieval past), now filled with restaurants and craft shops; Stortorget – once the biggest market square in Northern Europe, built in medieval times with its historical Town Hall (from 1544, rebuilt in the 1860s) that is absolutely stunning and a statue of King Karl X Gustav; finally a sumptuous dinner at Mello Yello (I had Mellos Toast, a mix of crayfish and prawns served on dark bread, with cumin-pickled fennel, apple, dill and rye chips)

Turning Torso, Sundspromenaden and Slottsparken

Yesterday afternoon: we walked from the Turning Torso to Sundspromenaden (the harbourside walk that runs along the water) to Slottsparken, the main park in Malmö. It has a windmill, a moated castle (Malmohus Slott), a cafe in the garden which overflows into a greenhouse (Slottstradgarden Kafe where we had lunch), and the most abundant, colorful flowers that seem to grow organically. Breathtaking!