A third of Pakistan is under water due to the devastating floods that struck in recent weeks. Please come to ONCA to show your support, learn about the systemic injustices and other issues behind the floods, and contribute to the relief efforts and fundraiser.

Entire villages have been swept away, along with the majority of the country’s crops. More than a million people are homeless and urgently need help to survive, while more rain is set to make conditions worse. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says he has “never seen climate carnage” on the scale at which Pakistan is suffering. Guterres and many commentators blame wealthier countries for contributing to the devastation. But what responsibility exactly do these wealthier nations bear?

EVENTS PROGRAMME

Thursday 22 September

• 5-8pm: Performance poetry and music night curated by legendary local queer feminist art collective Devil’s Dyke Network 
• 6-7pm: Online panel discussion chaired by Dr Nichola Khan, Co-director of the Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics, University of Brighton. (Watch from home via Zoom or Facebook Live, or from the gallery with DDN.) 

Friday 23 September

• 11am-1pm: Circle Weaving with Saj Fareed
  
• 3-5pm: Zines Zinedabad workshop with Soofiya

Saturday 24 September

• 1-4pm: Film screenings – Voice from the Roof of the World documentary series 
• 4-5pm: Ecofeminism and Pakistani Women’s Poetry workshop with Manjot Dhaliwal 

Artwork fundraiser

Throughout the events, artists will be selling low cost prints to raise funds for Pakistan – these will be printed to order for a minimum donation of £5.00 and poster prints on 100gsm.

Soofiya

About Soofiya:

Soofiya’s design practice centres around illustration, visual identity and book design, with most clients tending to be in the arts, cultural and activist sector. Soofiya’s art practice and writings aim to articulate a commentary on gender, race, politics and bodies through a DIY and therapeutically informed approach. Soofiya has worked as a lecturer in design and arts at Universities and HE institutions nationally and internationally in the UK and Xiamen, China. Soofiya is currently an associate lecture at UAL on their MA Internet Equalities course as well as a sessional lecturer at Ravensbourne and Brighton University.

Abinaya Kamalanathan

About Abinanya:

“Hello, my name is Abinaya. I live in London and I’m passionate about children’s illustration. I create digital and hand drawn illustrations for children, on subjects that affect children and to look at certain topics from a child’s point of view.”

Sabba Khan

About Sabba Khan:

Saj Fareed

Original A3 & A4 mindfulness drawings.

About Saj:

Saj Fareed is a British Asian slow artist and artist educator. She has developed her career working on a wide range of art education projects for museums, galleries, schools and many other establishments for over 25 years. Saj has a keen interest in promoting the arts and crafts to a wider audience and as a tool for creative expression and learning. The aim is to also empower and inspire individuals in their own creative process. Through her practice, Saj takes inspiration from her desire to live a slower pace in her life and the importance of creative self-care for our wellbeing.

These prints will be available to buy online soon. If you’re an artist and would like to sell you prints at this event and online via our website please email .

More artists TBA.

Donations

All of these events are drop in and free to attend but donations are encouraged. All proceeds will go to WDF (Women Democratic Front)a Pakistan-based, independent socialist-feminist resistance movement, providing aid to communities affected by flooding since 2018.

___

Image credit: Amandeep Singh

Image description: A crescent moon lies sideways, like a boat, on a watery blue background. A child sits on the crescent, head bowed, back resting against the star which has also fallen from the Pakistan flag which hangs limply from the boat’s mast, with no moon and star.