PAINTING HEALS – RISE BEYOND MARGINS

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” — Pablo Picasso

Welcome to my 2025 – 2027 Educational Crowdfunding Campaign!

Rise Beyond Margins: Empowering Inclusive Scholarship

Every painting, every piece of writing, every work of art has a story.
Sometimes those stories are hidden… invisible. And sometimes, we find the courage to let them be seen.

Painting Heals began as my way of surviving – transforming pain, grief, exhaustion, and invisibility into something honest, beautiful, and whole. What started as personal healing has grown into something larger: a bridge between art, advocacy, and scholarship. It has become a way to fight for equity, epistemic inclusion, and for voices too often left unheard.

Last fall, I presented three papers at the American Political Science Association (APSA) conferences in Vancouver, CA and Boston. With the support of family, friends, and community, I was able to successfully attend these important academic ventures.

The presentations explored:

  • Community-driven development and localization in fragile states
  • Gender-based violence and the invisibility of women in policy discourse
  • Mental health and inclusive pedagogy in political science education

Thank you so much for your generosity and support. That meant so much to me. I hope to continue to advance that scholarship going forward. I am excited to be able to continue using the valuable skills, resources, and experience I gained to pay it forward as I continue my academic career.

These opportunities are critical steps in my journey as a scholar-educator to elevate underrepresented voices, including my own. As an independent scholar on the market, I do not have immediate access to the necessary funding to move this critical research forward.

 I have kept this community-powered campaign initiative active, since last year, and as I move forward on my academic journey.

More details about ongoing research endeavors will continue be shared on my professional website HERE.

For now, I am continuing my academic work independently while on the market. Several papers I presented at APSA will be moving toward publication, with the full manuscript coming into fruition, alongside several other pieces in progress. 

This year I presented at the virtual Social Capital 2026 Conference in Dubai (March 2026). You can read about my experience HERE.

At the moment, I am trying to make it to same two conferences this year for APSA Annual Meeting (Boston, MA – September 3-7), and APSA Political Networks Conference and Workshops (University of Manchester, UK – August 3-7).

I have also been exploring the possibility of returning to Karachi, Pakistan, for a short period of fieldwork later this year (2026) or early next year (2027), to support my ongoing book and research projects. I was recently awarded a Spring research grant from the APSA Centennial Center to advance my dissertation-to-book projects, which includes partial funding for a ticket to Pakistan. It would be more than 7 years since I returned from Pakistan from my final doctoral fieldwork trip (March 2019) before I completed my degree (August 2021). So, this will be a truly important and meaningful return. However, more funding will be needed to make that trip possible.

I am actively seeking sponsors, grants, and institutional partners to make my forthcoming conference trips and ongoing research endeavors possible.

Recently, I was selected for a travel grant reimbursement from the APSA Political Networks Section to support my travels to Manchester. I am very grateful for that support. And I am very grateful to all who have supported the upfront costs through my Rise Beyond Margins initiative!

I am finding ways to keep moving forward on my research endeavors. Your support helps me sustain this journey – through the job market, the completion of publications, and the preparation for these future conferences/travels – during a time when I am working entirely without institutional funding or salary.

Thank you for standing with me as I continue this important work!

These papers are more than academic milestones; they are an extension of the journey that led to the creation of Painting Heals.

While I had hoped to continue fundraising for flood relief in Pakistan, earthquake recovery in Afghanistan, and humanitarian crises in Sudan and Gaza – as done in the past – this season I am offering my art in gratitude to those who help support my academic journey, with research papers from a development policy scholar-practitioner that these areas of the world.

Every contribution through my educational crowdfunding campaign supports ongoing academic endeavors, future conference travel expenses, and research costs. Most importantly, it supports the larger mission and message of resilience, inclusion, and empowerment for underrepresented voices in academia.

In return, I’ll share a piece of my work – a painting, a story, a tangible part of this journey – with those who wish to carry a part of it with them. It will truly be an honor for you to take a painting for these interconnected causes.

I have revived Painting Heals in a new way: as an offering of community, solidarity, and mutual aid alongside humanitarian crises.

Please find some of the paintings and instructions for this crowdfunding fundraiser linked HERE.

More paintings and updates will be added periodically!

The beauty is in the imperfection. Every piece brings effort, heart, and soul. And every piece of art you see here holds a part of my story, a story of courage and resilience, and now, it can be part of yours too.

Support the campaign here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/rising-beyond-the-margins-empowering-inclusivity

You can also find a comprehensive research funding proposal for the APSA conferences, in a PDF document, about Rise Beyond the Margins HERE. You will continue to see updates on the campaign page with relevant articles from the project.

Here are a few articles I wrote last year (2025) all connected to the Rise Beyond Margins campaign:

I am excited to bring more of the healing power of my art and writing in 2026!

Thank you for seeing the value of my work, and for believing in the power of art to heal, transform, and amplify underrepresented voices in academia.

If you believe in this initiative, a share within your social networks, a “like,” or just a word of encouragement could truly go a long way.

I hope that my story can demonstrate the importance of supporting one another in our academic and professional pursuits and dreams, especially if they involve elevating voices that stand for social justice, the noble pursuit of knowledge, social inclusion, equality, dignity, freedom, and more.

To learn more about how Painting Heals began with Painting Heals Pakistan, visit this link.

Sign up for my newsletter, The Qualitative Inquisition, for insights on arts-based methods and qualitative research. You can also support my art and writing on my Buy Me a Coffee page. I make all my writing freely accessible, so any support could help as I continue this journey!

Thank you for your generosity!
In solidarity, power, and peace,
Dr. Elsa T. Khwaja, Ph.D.

Learn more about me HERE.

You can also visit my Portfolio Life HERE.

Support Campaign Here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/rising-beyond-the-margins-empowering-inclusivity

You can find the original 2025 campaign video on the donation link, or watch it HERE

Please use the contact form in THIS LINK HERE should you have any questions, concerns, or comments regarding Painting Heals.

Thank you!