Coming to Washington DC I had no idea that my experience here was going to be so amazing. It has been a week now and it seems like only yesterday when I came here for the very first time waiting at the airport tired and exhausted from the long journey. And here I am now, writing this blog post on my last night here. From talking and getting to know people on the streets to learning more about their culture and customs and telling them about mine, it has been quite a journey. Working on the community project with Jess Solomon, and Matthew Brooks has been a great learning experience. Meeting organisations like DC Greens and brain foods who are working to engage the local people and help them live a healthier life was a great insight on how we can go about an issue in our society. The end result was going to the farmers market and working on a mural based on food justice and getting the locals to become a part of it was a lot of fun. Another important thing was to meet the local artists and to get to know how they took the initiative and the difficulties they had to face along the way.They along with both Jess and Monica have helped me immensely in understanding how we can go back and help initiate a cause that would eventually bring a positive change in our society. The artist that I enjoyed meeting the most was Christylez Bacon who’s a progressive Hip-Hop artist. It felt really amazing seeing him play the African djembe drum, guitar and the icing on the cake was the human beat-boxing. What was even more interesting was that he incorporated all these skills to tell stories.
The best part so far was being appreciated for your work and seeing how eagerly people wanted to meet us and know more about us and our country. It was really shocking finding out how little people knew about Pakistan some even thought we didn’t have any roads or schools! But I think through this program people here in DC got to know a lot more about us and and through our work have also been able to see that our country is full of such young talented artists who’s voices just need to be heard. All this wouldn’t have been possible without the efforts and support of Rachel Goldberg, Meridian International and The Phillips Collection.
