{"id":14241,"date":"2024-04-22T09:51:23","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T09:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-test.newschool.edu\/parsons-paris\/?p=14241"},"modified":"2024-04-22T09:51:24","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T09:51:24","slug":"karachi-to-paris-reconciling-femininity-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-test.newschool.edu\/parsons-paris\/2024\/04\/22\/karachi-to-paris-reconciling-femininity-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"Karachi to Paris: Reconciling Femininity & Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Article from issue 1 of ‘later’ <\/strong>– the Parsons Paris alumni magazine.
By Zahra Mansoor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As if gessoing carpets were as quotidian as sweeping the floor, Zahra Mansoor is painting on a small Pakistani rug when I arrive at her studio at 59 Rivoli \u2013 a former squat turned into a recognized gallery and artist residency space\u2014on a Sunday afternoon in October. For Zahra, however, this has become a habit; she utilizes such found objects and transforms them into what feel like commemorative shrines. Collectively her art works have an aura of nostalgia, however, it is a balancing act: each has a bone of contention to pick or a layer of the onion to peel regarding the history of colonization, feminism, and globalization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zahra was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan and has lived in Paris since 2019 (with a year in New York from 2021-2022). She is a mixed-media artist, moving fluidly between painting, sculpture, performance, and installation.  What follows is our conversation on Zahra\u2019s artistic practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what are you working on now?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m preparing a new carpet; I have a bunch that I have left and I had this vision of doing a show where I just cover the whole gallery in different carpets so I wanted to get this one done and start working on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process is to gesso and then you lay the piece on top?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, it just depends on what I\u2019m doing for some of them, like this one there, like this one there. I gessoed then I collaged fabric on top. But some of them I\u2019ve been painting directly like the ones at Gallery D. Even the ones in the left corner, those two are just gessoed and directly painted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The We sin-phool women, this project. So how did it start?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was actually when I was on exchange in New York. It\u2019s funny, I was in Paris a year before that during the pandemic. Do you know this English-language used bookstore on the left bank, called San Francisco Book Company? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was there, and I picked up this poetry book called Sultana\u2019s Dream, completely by accident. Saw the cover and it looked interesting because it was a Bengali author, and she was writing in English. And I was like ok maybe I\u2019ll read this on my flight or something. It was really inspiring because it was a story of a world without men. Written by this Bengali princess in the 1800s or something like that and I was surprised by how progressive her thought process was. Also, the fact that she was writing in English and all of that. So, it inspired this project because originally what I wanted to do was project videos of women in public spaces in Karachi, dressed how they would want to be dressed. Because you know, you have to be really careful in a city like that. That was my initial idea. That\u2019s what I used in New York to apply for funding with a friend of mine, Tessa Makai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I understand.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, we got the funding, and I was really happy. And then, it slowly shifted into these sculptures because we realized that it was very practical to project the videos in the summer. But then I started looking at the jasmine flower as symbol for women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jasmin is the same as the motia?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exactly yes, the Arabian Jasmine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It smells so good.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So good. I rarely see them here by the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see them on a lot of walls in Paris. So, it\u2019s symbolic of what were you saying?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s symbolic of the sacred feminine and it\u2019s also the national flower of Pakistan. Which I was surprised by because it\u2019s really this goddess flower and it\u2019s funny that it\u2019s our national flower when they don\u2019t really treat women like this. Like they\u2019re sacred anymore. So, the idea kind of changed into doing life sized sculptures of women instead. And then putting them in public space and seeing how people would react to them. And then, leading up from the book that I read when I was in Paris, I started looking at a bunch of poetry. And then that\u2019s how we came across this poem called \u201cWe Sinful Women\u201d. So it\u2019s by this Pakistani feminist poet, so we got the translation from this book and then the title is a play on words because the word \u201cphool\u201d in Urdu means flowers, so it\u2019s like \u201csin-phool\u201d women. And we had a fundraiser in New York, and we did prototypes in the city. And then we travelled to Karachi for over two months. One of the best things I think I\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are so interesting looking, and they are supposed to be naked? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A mix of both. It\u2019s either, it\u2019s almost like husks of women when I see them like snake skin almost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But they don\u2019t have clothes on.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, they are naked. Absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And had you worked in sculpture before these?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No never, Olivia, I am horrible at sculpture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, they are great. I am so impressed by the weaving of the flowers. How many did you make in the end?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We made five. It was intense work. At the end we got friends to help out putting the flowers on because it was taking forever. Then we let them name them all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you ever have interesting reactions to the sculptures?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For sure. Sometimes they were mad at us for putting them in, like the one in the mall. They were like \u201cthis is illegal; you aren\u2019t supposed to do this,\u201d my brother had to argue with them. The one at the beach, they thought it was a cursed object. Because there\u2019s a lot of superstitions about touching things on the beach that are organic. So, a lot of women were telling their kids to not go and touch them and warning them kind of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, let\u2019s talk about your other pieces in the studio. What about this painting? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you ever read Slaughterhouse Five? I like the book because the aliens see time as humans can\u2019t see it, they see it as a landscape. There\u2019s one quote \u2013 I can\u2019t remember exactly \u2013 but something about how when you think of moments in your life it\u2019s not actually gone forever but all of them exist in this landscape of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would you ever move back to Karachi?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a little bit complicated because my mother wants me to get married. That\u2019s why my work is about reconciling where I come from and trying to still be able to love those things but not be spiteful about things that I can\u2019t have. It\u2019s very complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see because part of you wants that? Part of you wants that tradition and the comfort of that but that\u2019s not who you are either.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. It would be very easy for me to live there, to go and come back. But honestly, it\u2019s horrible. Yeah because, the only reason why I make work is because I was so fucking bored growing up. The political situation was bad and it\u2019s getting worse again and when I was growing up we\u2019d have like bombs every week. I wouldn\u2019t go to school like three days a week. I had no mobility, and I still don\u2019t. So, my family is an old family in the city. Like European cities it\u2019s the same way you know, like in the old center\u2013 but nobody lives there anymore. You wouldn\u2019t want to live in Chatelet for example. The difference is, I can\u2019t go outside, there\u2019s no public transport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No transport?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s buses and small rickshaws and stuff. But the class gap is huge. There\u2019s no middle class and that\u2019s how life is. I either go out with my mom or my dad or I don\u2019t go out. So, a lot of time to do nothing. That\u2019s how you start doing creative stuff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, it\u2019s very dangerous for women. I think it\u2019s getting worse. There\u2019s a lot of forced marriage, a lot of arranged marriage. It\u2019s just if I were to go back, the thing is, Olivia, I would need to get married. Because I can\u2019t live in my family\u2019s house forever. Even if my brother takes me out. It\u2019s not safe. The way the whole society is set-up, for example, on my driving license it says either my father or my husband\u2019s name on it. As a woman you are always somebody\u2019s property. If you\u2019re not married and you\u2019re like 30 or 40 \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re like a witch\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah! Either you\u2019re having sex outside marriage which just makes you a slut or you\u2019re a virgin which makes you \u2026 like sexually attractive. So, there\u2019s no winning. But listen, for me, there\u2019s still things that I like about my culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so, a lot of my work and my life is about trying to not be mad about things that are bad and taking ownership over the things that I want to take ownership over. And also, it\u2019s entrenched in me. I can\u2019t help the fact that I\u2019m from here. I can\u2019t ever change this so I might as well try to love myself in some way. Because a lot of the beauty is also not accessible to me\u2026 because I can\u2019t even attend a traditional music concert —  like a Qawwali \u2013 usually because like for men it can be a little bit more loose and dance and stuff. It\u2019s very male-dominated. When my friend Tessa was there, there was a Qawwali night, but it\u2019s all men singing. I love the music, so we went. But it\u2019s so awkward. There aren\u2019t really so many women, and we try to be like so conservative, so men don\u2019t look at you. Like I can\u2019t like sing or dance, or I\u2019ll be seen as lose. Even to see architectural monuments or the mosques \u2013 you never go without a man with you. So I work with imported landscapes, looking at the difference between here and there the East and West and how it\u2019s all connected. And the borders and thinking of South Asia as region and seeing these different motifs. Working with female friendships, female intimacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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