Shaheen Ahmed: Naz̤ar

“Naz̤ar” is an audio-visual exploration of the public presence and inner worlds of South Asian Muslim migrant communities in their adopted cities. The project gathers the living, cultural archives of the migrant communities’ presence, illuminating their backstories—what lies beneath a missing-person notice? What’s the buzz about the elections in the community’s gossip mill? What do people think of the new influencer Imam? And what about the kids who fell in love? This work asserts reclaiming the urban spaces against attempts at ghettoization and the forced invisibility of migrant experiences.

As a Muslim documentary practitioner from India, living in Europe for the past four years, I have always found a sense of home in the visible presence of South Asian Muslim communities around me. While these communities are not homogeneous, their cultural engagements in the corners of several European cities are often shared and familiar. Many times, I’ve approached these cities through the lens of their small corners.

The project will start from Athens, focusing on the neighborhoods around Metaxourgeio, Kypseli, and Attiki. It will engage with various South Asian Muslim communities in Athens, gathering stories, gossips, dreams, and aspirations through audio-visual field recordings that will render the migrant experience. This intimate scope will be intertwined with documenting the collective, outward cultural aesthetics in audio-visual footprints of the community’s public presence in Athens. Most of the project will take place during the Islamic month of Ramadan, a prominent spiritual and cultural experience for Muslim communities. Overall, “Naz̤ar” is an attempt to view Athens from the vantage point of a migrant community, over the walls where their hopes and yearnings rest, carried across many seas from their homeland.

(The word “naz̤ar” resonates with such meanings as “glance,” “behold,” and sometimes even extends to “evil eye” in several South Asian languages, including Urdu, Punjabi, Bangla, and Hindi.)