Please join us for “Karachi Kid,” an exhibition and discussion of the socioeconomic challenges surrounding adoption in Pakistan with Photographer Kashif Javaid.

Exhibition Opens: 5:30 - 6:00 pm

Discussion: 6:00 - 7:00 pm

Reception: 7:00 - 7:30 pm

Photographer Kashif Javaid traveled to Karachi, Pakistan to document the experiences of children, healthcare workers, and families involved in the adoption process in Pakistan. Compelled by their own personal experience of becoming parents through adoption, Javaid and his wife Faiza want to foster open and honest conversations on the traditionally taboo subject of adoption. Issues of poverty, censorship, women's rights, and infanticide all shape how and why adoption has become a taboo subject in Pakistani culture.  

Javaid will present his work and discuss the project's focus. The presentation will be followed by a discussion with the audience and a small reception where guests can view some of Javaid's work.

Speakers:

Kashif Javaid is the son of a freelance artist and a compassionate mother. He was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan. With his friends, he played unsupervised in the streets and on the rooftops. The city was his, at least in our minds it belonged to them. Fast forward to now and he is married to my first love, my childhood friend and father to a boy who has enabled him to become curious, expressive and playful. For more than a decade, photography has enabled him to express myself. At times, the camera allows him to escape and play unsupervised like the kid once did in Karachi. He is compelled to tell stories that are personal and are kept tucked away due to societal pressure and a vigilant and convulsive culture. 

Shamila N. Chaudhary was appointed President of the American Pakistan Foundation in August of 2019. She is an international affairs analyst specializing in U.S. foreign policy with a focus on U.S.-Pakistan relations. She is a Senior South Asia Fellow at New America; and a Fellow at the Johns Hopkins SAIS Foreign Policy Institute. She served in the Obama administration as Director for Pakistan and Afghanistan on the National Security Council from 2010-2011. She is also a photographer and the co-editor of documentary photography book Un-Presidented: The Inauguration of Donald J. Trump and the People’s Response.