"Have you lost your mind? You, as a woman, are going alone?" In this relatable short-film, Hira Nabi provokes us to answer these questions. Will we, as women, become paralysed by fear, shout back in reactionary rebellion, or venture into the unknown to see for ourselves?

What happens when a woman decides to walk to the sea by herself? This fictitious piece is based on real life events and happenings. I am interested not in localizing patriarchy only to Karachi, Pakistan but in locating its specific regional culture that allows for and passes off inequity, gender discrimination, bigotry, sexism, religious intolerance all as indigenous customs and evolutionary patriarchy. I have been accused of glorifying the West, or unreasonably locating this within Pakistan. My answers to those are, firstly I am locating this within Karachi, Pakistan, as it was shot there. People are free to make comparisons, share (simllar or otherwise) experiences and even contrary experiences.

About the Author

Hira Nabi is a teaching artist living and working in Lahore, Pakistan. She studied video, gender studies and post colonial theory at Hampshire College. Her visual work is experimental in form, and she deliberately melds the conventions of documentary with fiction to put together her narratives. She is part of an artist collective in Lahore called Chalo Chalo Lahore Chalo.

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