Paper Boats: The Pakistani Bengali story (exhibition and film screening)

‘Paper Boats’ refers both to the connection many in the community share with the sea through their work as fishermen, as well as the fragility of their legal status in Pakistan due to the challenges they face around documentation and citizenship.

To be stateless is to live in a world of uncertainty. Through art, music, animation, and film, this exhibition features work from nine artists who celebrate the rich culture and explore the daily challenges this group contends with.

The show opens on 16 November from 4:30pm and will be accompanied by a screening of Jawad Sharif’s Bashaili (Adrift) at 6pm, which captures the everyday stories of Pakistani Bengalis living in Karachi. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director and the research team behind the project. Please book your place for the film screening using the link above.

Speakers

• Humera Iqbal, Social Research Institute, UCL
• Anushay Malik, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan and the Simon Fraser University, Canada
• Tahera Hasan, Imkaan Welfare Organization
• Jawad Sharif, Director of Bhashaili (Adrift), filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer

The exhibition itself will be open until 9 December 2023 and does not require booking in advance. It was curated by Humera Iqbal, Anushay Malik, Adan Shaikh and Axel Lucas, with support from Dr Maria Rashid  – based on research from the Partition of Identity Project, a collaboration between University College London and Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan.

This in-person event will be particularly useful for those interested in citizenship, migration and statelessness.

Related links

• The Partition of Identity
• More about the exhibition
• In the media: Paper Boats: The Pakistani Bengali story
• UCL Social Research Institute