A multi-disciplinary exhibition viewing, opening up to conversations foregrounded on practices of women artists and peacebuilders, takes SOAS South Asia Institute’s Sanglaap Art and Culture Series to a contemporary level of critical inquiry, based on decades of personal experience by artists, curators and writers from the region.
In collaboration with SOAS South Asia Institute, Southasia Peace Action Network (Sapan), and Kultura Verse UK, we invite you to SOAS Wolfson Gallery for a guided walkthrough by Manmeet K Walia, co-curator of the art exhibit We Sinful Women, which is inspired by the title of the renowned poet Kishwar Naheed’s poem Hum Gunahgar Auratein.
The viewing will be followed by a contextual panel discussion on Gender, Media and Peace Building led by Dr Sanjukta Ghosh, Artistic Director of the SOAS, South Asia Institute, with Manmeet K. Walia, literary critic and writer Mira Hashmi, and Beena Sarwar, Sapan co-founder, journalist and filmmaker, followed by a Q&A session.
Programme:
- 2:45 pm to 3:00 pm — Meet and Greet at SOAS Main Building Reception**
- 3:00 pm to 3:30 pm — We Sinful Women Wolfson Gallery Exhibition, Guided Walkabout
- 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm — Gender, Media and Peace Building Panel Talks at the Djam Lecture Theatre, SOAS Main Building.
- 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm — Discussion with Q&A and Networkin
**Registration is essential for entry into the exhibition
Summary:
The event presents a guided walkthrough of the art exhibit We Sinful Women at the SOAS Wolfson Gallery, which brings together works of women artists from South Asia and the Middle East, featuring rarely seen art from the private collection of Taimur Hassan. The Library Project, co-curated by Salima Hashmi (Sapan Founder member) and Manmeet K Walia, highlights the role of artistic resilience, feminist solidarities, and poetic narratives, encapsulating the struggles of women through the decades of reflection.
A contextualised panel discussion on Gender, Media and Peace Building is then led by Dr Sanjukta Ghosh (SSAI) with Beena Sarwar, as the founder-curator of Southasia Peace Action Network (Sapan), literary critic and writer Mira Hashmi and Manmeet K Walia.
Through their unique artistic and media perspectives on feminism, non-Western arts and culture, and political policy, the conversation will explore the powerful intersections of solidarity, resilience and resistance across the region. It will delve into shared histories and the critical role of media in both, challenging oppression and building bridges, and offering a crucial lens on feminist peacebuilding praxis that connects local struggles to a boundary-pushing and collective vision for a just future.
An audience Q&A with special comments by Cllr Shahid Nadeem Sandhu, founding member of Kultura Verse UK and Sapan working committee member.
Beena Sarwar is a multi-media journalist, editor, and documentary filmmaker from Pakistan who focuses on human rights, gender, media, peace and South Asia. She is a board member of the Sapan Foundation, launched in 2024; a founder member of the Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) and the Women’s Action Forum Pakistan. She also served on the elected Council of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan for three consecutive terms. A 2023 Fellow at the Poynter Institute’s Media Transformation Challenge, she and her team are developing Sapan News from a voluntary to a professional media outlet. She is based in Cambridge, MA, but also calls Karachi and Lahore home.
Mira Hashmi is a Pakistani actor known for her roles in dramas Teen Bata Teen, Family Front, Taamak Toyian, and the author of Gulzar’s Ijaazat: Insights Into the Film (2019), dedicated to the Faiz Festival in memory of her grandfather, the celebrated poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz.
Register at this link tinyurl.com/SSAI-16Nov25 or scan QR code
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