2022–ongoing
Pedagogical and artistic research platform, Ibrahim Hyderi, Karachi
The School of Imagination (SOI) is a long-term platform developed with communities in Ibrahim Hyderi and in partnership with the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum. It brings artistic research into relation with situated forms of learning, collective work and the political realities of a coastal community. Rather than importing a fixed educational model, SOI develops its programme through conversation, shared decisions and the knowledge already present in the community.
Methods
Two local practices shape the school. Kachehri is an assembly in which participants share stories, discuss common concerns and negotiate decisions. Jugaad, or jugaar, describes forms of improvisation that respond to limited resources through practical invention. Within SOI, these methods support workshops and collective processes concerned with boatbuilding, labour, environmental justice and the production of knowledge.
The platform asks how an educational structure can remain answerable to the people who sustain it. Its work therefore extends beyond short-term workshops. It focuses on participation by women and young people, collective ownership and the gradual formation of a locally grounded school. Learning takes place through making, discussion and collaboration, with artistic practice serving as one tool among others rather than the centre of the process.
Collaboration
SOI is developed with the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum and residents of Ibrahim Hyderi. Its continuing programme brings together community assemblies, practical workshops, artistic research and public forms of reflection.
