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Flags of the Sea/ Samandar-ke-Parcham

Flags of the sea, or Samandar-ke-Parcham, came to fruition alongside the thesis research of Khadija Jamot, a resident of Ibrahim Hyderi and a 2024 alumni from the Department of Fine Art. Flags on vessels on the harbors of Karachi such as Ibrahim Hyderi, Keamari and Port Qasim,  feature multiple geometrical layouts similar to symbols or motifs from flags of existing countries. Across Khadija’s documentation of the Indus Delta, from Ibrahim Hyderi to Phitti Creek and Bundal Island, her footage featured hundred of boats with flags, an iconic facet of fisherfolk/mahigeer visual culture from the delta. The lifestyles and visual communication of the mahigeer who live within harbor points of Sindh are at the peripheries of Karachi’s concrete existence and the simple act of making flags is a relic of an age-old responsibility of weaving nets. Historically, the mahigeer women would make their own fishing nets, using fibers of silk (resham) or raw cotton (charra) from scratch and inherited the skill-sets to weave these nets with customizable thickness and holes (akh) which were specified by the captain (naukha) of the boat.

Since the 1990’s Karachi’s coastal economy has been flooded with cheap imported nylon nets made in China locally known as the deadly bholo-gujo nets which are detrimental for thriving oceans as these nets sweep up by-catch and baby fish. The craft of making nets at a cottage-industry level was integral to sustainable practices in Karachi’s coastal community and this has been erased with the use of the bholo-gujo nets.

Flags are really the only form of female visibility in the appearance of the boats as mahigeer women primarily take care of the home and do not partake in fishing activities. Women still sew clothes, mend fabrics for furniture and as a result, know how to make flags for the boats which their family members operate. In this project the URA team with Khadija, look at the simplicity of flag making and how that it speaks to the local vernacular. Boat decor and  ritualistic knowledge in baptizing, sealing and personalizing the vessel have received minimal attention in research on Sindh’s maritime history. With Samandar-ke-Parcham, the URA acknowledges how most of the resources generated on Pakistan’s coastal economy are in the form of printed reports which speak to at-a-distance research and exist on forums which cater to a foreign lens.    The importance of detail in documentation cannot be overstated when it comes to urban craft. Each research output for Samandar-ke-Parcham will capture how the act of making, material resource allocation  and coastal ecologies intersect. This careful documentation preserves local knowledge and makes critical environmental issues more accessible for users of the URA website. Bypassing the need for mass printing and physical distribution, this urban craft project is built on the need for artists, art students and researchers, to document and cherish the instinctive and hereditary ways of making tools and decorations across the mahigeer community of Sindh.

Footage credits: Khadija Jamot (Class of 2024), Dua Rabay (Class of 2019 and URA Archiving Assistant), and Shezil Ahmed (Class of 2025)

The urs for Yousuf Shah

A reoccurring structure in Khadija’s work was the shrine of Yousuf Shah and the annual urs (a spiritual commemoration) which occurs on Bundal Island, around 11 km of a boat ride away from her home, Ibrahim Hyderi. Khadija’s documentation on coastal ecologies and the erasure of island life was a result of these multiple boat rides from her home, up Phitti Creek, which runs through the mangroves of Bundal Island and connects to the shrine of Yusuf Shah. 

Every year, the mahigeer community gather at Yousuf Shah’s shrine on Bundal Island. The celebration of music, spirituality and devotion with vendors selling flags, sweets and forms of crafts and trinkets around the shrine of Yousuf Shah is a spectacular scene testifying to the joy of the mahigeer. Some of these items are beads or jewelry pieces used during prayer, while others are wooden swings or toy cots, purchased by couples who want to conceive or have children.

Documentation for the future

One of the primary impacts of the Samandar-ke-Parcham will be its role in expanding how researchers see art and environmental consciousness side by side. Rituals such as the urs of Yousuf Shah may appear as just another festival but this annual event,  is in danger of not being carried out in the future due to rising sea levels causing many of these intertidal islands, such as Bundal Island to be inundated during the year.
During 2020, Bundal Island was threatened with ‘development’ plans with the intention of building a thoroughfare to connect the island with the city of Karachi through a road. This will jeopardize the sanctity of the land, its ecology and its availability for the indigenous mahigeer to carry out fishing practices and their festivities unperturbed. Documenting their rituals and crafts with  art students of Karachi hold much value in acknowledging Karachi does not just belong to inhabitants of the city, but also to the fisherfolk who live on the edges of the city and are integral to our food economy. Their mythologies, the market dynamics they live within and environmental issues that affect their income such as the destruction of mangroves, and unregulated fishing in the Arabian Sea, can be used as examples for art students to respond with when developing site-specific and environmentally conscious projects. By framing these topics through an art-based educational tool, this urban craft project demonstrates how creative practice can influence social change and raise awareness about pressing environmental challenges.

Through the lens of an art student

 Samandar-ke-Parcham is currently being carried out with the URA team which includes current student Shezil Ahmed and alumni Dua Rabay and Khadija Jamot. With Khadija’s intimate understanding of Ibrahim Hyderi,  the URA is navigating coastal ecology and craft through key guides and companions  at Ibrahim Hyderi.  Being part of the homes and workshops of the mahigeer  allows the project to unravel the stages of making items such as the flag. It is these collaborative efforts with the URA team, which motivate the URA  to document indigenous communities thoughtfully and inclusively.  Through regular workshops and discussions on ethical documentation, the URA team approaches field work in marginalized communities as an opportunity for students from the Department of Fine Art, to approach research with sensitivity when benefiting from the knowledge systems offered by communities and their environments. This framework aims to promote long-term, sustainable research practices within pedagogy, ensuring that findings are accurate, respectful, and impactful.

Adapting to eventual change…

Students and alumni from the Department of Fine Art are expanding Samandar-ke-Parcham by incorporating how the mahigeer are adapting to the effects of industrialization surrounding their homes and the increased cost of living whilst battling climate change. One example which shows the ingenuity and crises of the mahigeer are styrofoam boats wrapped with leftover bori bags utilizing a drainage pipe and in-built motor systems to keep them afloat as featured in Khadija Jamot’s thesis documentation.

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