Archive

Everything published so far, filterable by what it is, what it is about and where it is from.

35 records

An illustrated television set on a carved wooden cabinet, lit by a fringed table lamp.

Quiz

Thirty years in the right order

Eight moments from Pakistani public and cultural life, shuffled. Recognising them is easy; putting them in order is not.

Quiz

The Biryani Constitution

Aloo or no aloo, raita or salad, degh or home pot: find the article of biryani law you live by.

A transistor radio on a crocheted doily above a stack of Urdu paperbacks, beside a wall calendar.

Quiz

Pakistani music: 1990s to now

Cassette-era rock, Coke Studio and streaming-era hip-hop: ten questions on who made Pakistani music since the 1990s, and how.

Quiz

What type of wedding guest are you?

Card says eight, food at eleven: find your place in shaadi season, from the dance practice group to the last table standing.

Quiz

Test your sports knowledge

Cricket, yes, but also squash courts, hockey pitches, a javelin runway and Everest: ten questions on Pakistan's sporting high points.

Crossword

Pakistani roads

Passes, stands and the things that wear out on the way. An 8×8 midi.

The same corner building photographed later, its ground floor occupied by bank and phone-brand shopfronts.

Experience

The corner

The same wooden-balconied corner building, photographed twice. Move between the frames and the difference is entirely in the ground floor.

A portable Bluetooth speaker on the same crocheted doily and stack of books, beside a wall calendar open at April.

Experience

The shelf

One shelf, two frames, and a calendar in each that reads April 1978 and April 2024.

An open ledger with hand-ruled columns of Urdu entries and figures.

Archive

A shop ledger, open

Ruled columns, a running total and a hand that does not hesitate.

A printed and hand-filled job slip listing paper sizes, quantities and rates in Urdu.

Archive

A printer's parchi

A job slip with rates, quantities and a signature at the foot.

A printed receipt from a livestock market, filled in by hand with weights and rates in Urdu.

Archive

A mandi receipt

Weights, rates and a running column, written out by hand at the point of sale.

A metal stencil plate cut with the word MULTAN, resting on a timber board and inked red.

Archive

A stencil plate

The plate that puts a place name on every crate that leaves the yard.

A curved grafting knife with a worn wooden handle resting on a stone surface with two dry leaves.

Archive

A grafting knife

A curved blade worn thin on one side by repeated sharpening.

Brass balance scales beside a stack of iron weights on a market table, with fruit crates behind.

Archive

Balance scales

Two brass pans, a stack of iron weights and a decision made in public.

A carved and pierced timber balcony rail with a turned baluster, weathered pale by sun.

Archive

A balcony rail

Pierced timber and a turned baluster, weathered on the street side.

A weathered enamel signboard hand-lettered in Urdu for a paint and hardware shop.

Archive

A paint shop sign

Hand-lettered Urdu on enamel, with the English trade name underneath.

A pair of large brass-handled tailor's shears lying open on a pale surface.

Archive

Tailor's shears

Brass-handled, heavy, and set down mid-job.

A single yellow mango resting on the crumpled newsprint it was wrapped in.

Archive

A mango, wrapped

The newsprint is the packaging, and the packaging is dated.

A narrow lane crowded with pedestrians and motorcycles, hung with layered bookshop signboards.

Archive

A bookshop lane

Signboards stacked three deep over a lane too narrow for two cars.

An open account book with hand-drawn column rules and rows of Urdu entries.

Archive

A ruled account book

Columns drawn with a straight edge before a single entry was made.

Crossword

Kitchen essentials

What is actually on the shelf. An 8×8 midi.

Warmly lit painted walls and arched windows inside a historic Pakistani monument.

Experience

Engineering the Indus

Sukkur Barrage, 1924–1927. The barrage is the monument; the evidence that survives is mostly of everything around it.

Experience

Purana Ghar

A Lahore sitting room, 1987. The arrangement of the room is the evidence.

Experience

A capital drawn before it existed

Islamabad, 1960 onwards. The plan and the city are two different objects, and holding them apart is what makes the comparison mean anything.

An illustration of two snow leopards crossing a moonlit ridge, captioned 'The Ghost of the Mountain'.

Story

The Ghost of the Mountain

Tales of the Mergichan among the Wakhi people: snow, moonlight and an animal you almost see.

A night-time satellite-style image showing a dense network of settlement lights along river and road corridors.

Story

Pakistan at night

Roads, markets and settlements read differently once the only thing left is light.

An illustrated sheet of imagined stamps showing plants, trains, mountains and geometric motifs.

Story

A stamp sheet for now

A tiny national canvas for public memory, ornament and wit — and an argument about what deserves the smallest public stage.