Hi, my name is Dr. Elsa Talat Khwaja. I am a social scientist, and an international development consultant and research scholar, writer and artist.
I have a deep connection to the story of Pakistan. With my goals to bridge understanding to Pakistan, I’d like to share my motivations and intentions behind creating this painting auction and fundraiser.
I often advise students, while immersed in their studies, to pick up a non-academic hobby while getting through their educational endeavor. We may be discouraged to do anything but put our heads in our books, but this can be counter-productive.
For me, during my doctoral education, that “non-academic hobby” became painting. Painting and drawing would always be at the back of my mind, as my childhood passion, well into my adult years. And it was in the middle of my PhD program that I decided to explore and harness that passion more. I used the hobby for various purposes, i.e. coping with the stress and anxiety through a daunting process and journey. While painting could be a strenuous task, especially when experimenting with different mediums and techniques, it would result with a “finished product,” and that notion of a “finished product” outside of academic writing, sends a message to the brain, when trying to complete such large feats, like the doctoral dissertation.
I believe my paintings represent a variety of emotions and concepts, emulating an “evolutionary process” during key moments of my life, involving the need for patience, persistence, courage, tenacity, and “resilience.” One may notice, for example, that the older paintings may be of less quality than others, in terms of technique. For that reason, the paintings represent transformation, evolution, change, and growth.
The paintings displayed in the 2022 Pakistan Floods auction and the larger gallery comprise many that were completed during my PhD studies on Pakistan. I added paintings that were completed recently as well as those completed while working on my dissertation.
During my fieldwork in Pakistan, I had the opportunity to connect with the arts and culture across the country. Many of my research informants (development practitioners, aid workers, businessmen and women, CEOs, scholars, experts, academics, village leaders (men and women), government officials, journalists, etc.) were also artists, writers, painters, poets, architects, and historians. I sensed a “connect-the-dots” moment on my passion for art and the development studies/work in Pakistan.
My paintings are now being auctioned for charities to support the ongoing damages that the catastrophic floods have caused and that climate change will continue to cause Pakistan. While the international community has stepped forward, Pakistan continues to require a lot of help.
We all try to do our part, individually and collectively. I thought this would be the right place to extend the proceeds of these paintings: to the people of Pakistan, and to the people who care about the prosperity and future of this beautiful country.
I want to emphasize that I will not be making any personal profit from this painting auction. My hope is to use this medium as a way of spreading the value of climate change philanthropy, and awareness of the development challenges in Pakistan, worsened by climate change, and beyond. My paintings have been a profound source of healing for me, and I hope they serve, in some way, to heal others too.
Thank you for visiting “Painting Heals….Pakistan!”
If you support my work, you are welcome to Buy me a Coffee Here. Thank you!
You can learn more about Dr. Khwaja’s professional and academic background here: www.elsatkhwaja.com
Doctoral Dissertation: Acknowledgements | Dr. Elsa Talat Khwaja, PhD (elsatkhwaja.com)
For 7 months, within 2 years (2017-2019), I had the beautiful opportunity to conduct doctoral-level fieldwork in Pakistan, I took over 35,000 photos in my travels around the country. All photos from Pakistan featured on this website are captured from travels in Pakistan. Below you will see a small collection of those photos from the most memorable moments of my life (a few from my Masters Fieldwork as well in 2008).
(Please note: I will be adding more to this gallery on an ongoing basis – and also replace some pictures that appear in lower resolution):