The idea of a 'Young South Asian Artists' exhibition struck a chord when acclaimed Lahore-based artist and educator Salima Hashmi mentioned it some years ago, after writer and curator Manmeet K. Walia from New Delhi approached her about it.

Salima Hashmi, known for her creativity and longstanding commitment to peace, democracy and human rights, is also a founder member and advisor for the Southasia Peace Action Network which nearly 90 of us launched online in March 2021. Her lifetime of hard work, struggle, and consistency stand apart from the legacy she inherited from her illustrious father, the celebrated poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz.

When Prof. Hashmi and Ms. Walia presented their then under-production show at the Faiz Festival in Lahore, 2023, what stood out was the creativity and courage they were showcasing.

Two years later, their intergenerational, cross-border collaboration came together in the major exhibition titled '(Un)Layering the future past of South Asia: Young artists’ voices'. The show launched at the School of Oriental and African Studies Gallery, London, in April, is supported by The Ravi Jain Memorial Foundation and the Dhoomimal Gallery, New Delhi.

Featuring the works of 26 young artists from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, the multidisciplinary exhibition takes South Asia's stories to a global stage. A special half-day event in London last Tuesday, 10 June, titled ' South Asia: people, promise and potential - art, film and discussion' at the Bloomsbury Institute London that brought together the South Asian artists exhibit with a documentary I made in Sri Lanka last year provided an opportunity to travel and see the exhibit.

The event started with a meetup hosted by Arif Zaman, who teaches business and leads enterprise outreach at the Bloomsbury Institute in the Knowledge Quarter, London. The Bloomsbury Institute was the world's first independent provider to join the UN Sustainable Development Goals network for higher education institutions.

Manmeet Walia led a walkthrough of the exhibit. Showcased across three floors, it incorporates haunting elements that emerge from deep pain, introspection, and clearly, masses of research. The artists address various urgent themes and struggles across the region through various media. Their home countries are deliberately kept out of the descriptions because as Ms. Walia said, "We don't want to box them into national identities".

One poignant piece is 'Fragile Balance', a prayer rug made of lit and unlit matchsticks, by Hadi Tahnaward, 2023.

"Praying for peace" in his homeland, said Manmeet Walia.

The video of a woman in a blue burqa, seated by a mud wall, singing softly in the traditionally celebratory Baloch genre known as Leeko, plays on a loop under the stairs. Her keening runs through the gallery, conveying her pain as she mourns the loss of family members. Aiman Amin, the youngest artist in the show who graduated from Beaconhouse National University in Lahore last year, came across the woman while visiting Balochistan and sat recording her for hours.

'The longest revolution' is an incredible piece of embroidery in running stitch. It took the artist Varunika Saraf a year to make and bring together various movements for women's rights in India.

Another textiles-based piece is the sprawling collaborative installation 'Hum bhi Dekhenge' (We Too Will See), by Pakistani and Indian artists Purvai Rai and Maheen Kaazim. Having never met, they worked together on Zoom to put the piece together. It exemplifies 'CreaTech', bringing together the creative and technology fields.

These are just some of the pieces in the show, each worth savouring and sitting with, curated well before the latest India-Pakistan conflict put up more walls between our two countries. One hopes that more galleries will host this incredible resource with its deep insights, promoting curiosity, empathy and understanding across borders.

The works at the exhibition are the equivalent of immersive, not parachute journalism, as we agreed at the Bloomsbury Institute later, at the panel discussion deftly moderated by Zaman. This is also the aim of 'Democracy in Debt: Sri Lanka Beyond the Headlines,' a 25 minute documentary made in collaboration with a visionary Sri Lankan, the award-winning filmmaker, historian, and art historian Dr. SinhaRaja Tammita-Delgoda.

The film follows up on Sri Lanka's economic crisis of 2022, which catalysed sustained, peaceful public protests and forced regime change. It juxtaposes multiple voices and perspectives, urban and rural, micro and macro, and the bigger picture, highlighting patterns and universal issues relevant beyond Sri Lanka.

Through Dr. Tammita-Delgoda I came to know the brilliant political analyst and researcher Uditha Devapriya who worked with us on the film, and Yoshita Perera who is behind the film's beautiful cinematography.

International journalism often sees countries through agenda and breaking news issues. What is groundbreaking about our project and characterizes the work of the Southasia Peace Action Network and Sapan News, is that we went in without an agenda -- being exploratory, observational, and non-judgmental.

My involvement with the Sri Lanka project continues to be a learning process. An Urdu version has been completed at Geo TV, a Sinhala translation is underway, while Tamil and Bangla versions are also possible.

Sri Lanka is unlike many parts of Asia where rural inhabitants tend to be poor, impoverished and marginalised. Dutuweva, a 'purana gama' or ancient village dating back to the 2nd century B.C. in the rice-growing heartland we filmed in Sri Lanka's North-Central Province, presents a very different picture as exemplified by Amila, the young farmer at the heart of our tale.

A common thread that runs through South Asia is the increasing access to smart phones and the internet. Amila uses it to access YouTube and Google translate, through which he has looked up our work.

Economic collapse in various countries in other parts of the world has led to violent upheaval. In Sri Lanka, which boasts one of the longest running traditions of universal suffrage in the world, "system change" came through the democratic process.

Our film, completed in June 2024, anticipated the sweeping changes which would transform the political landscape of the country in September. As reiterated in the film, democracy is a process and not an event.

The questions we raise continue to have deep relevance for many countries in South Asia, as well as in Africa and South America. Many are Commonwealth countries. And the Commonwealth Businesswomen’s Network has become the first Commonwealth accredited organisation to endorse the Sapan Founding Charter, one of the 108 now on board.

In his 2011 interview to the now defunct TV Southasia Talk Dhaka, Arif Zaman articulated a vision that aligns with what Sapan began in 2021. It’s not up to the governments or about money, he said, “it’s about connecting people.”

CAPTION: Part 2 of Arif Zaman’s interview to TV Southasia Talk Dhaka, 2011. (Part 1 here, and Part 3 here)

In keeping with this vision, Zaman had developed last Tuesday's event in consultation with a range of stakeholders and partners including CBWN, SOAS, and Sapan, besides the University of Leeds' ⁠India and South Asia Business Centre; ⁠Commonwealth Research Network on International Business; the ⁠SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry; ⁠Commonwealth Scholars from South Asia; and OPEN London, launched last year. Started in Boston two decades ago as the Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs of North America, OPEN is now a global, nonprofit that fosters entrepreneurship in many countries.

(The writer is a journalist and peace activist from Pakistan based in the Boston area. She is the founder editor of Sapan News and co-founder and curator of the Southasia Peace Action Network. By special arrangement with Sapan)