Sadia Khatri (

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

: سعدیہ کھتری) is a Pakistani writer, photographer and feminist based in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

. She has worked as a journalist at

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the diffuse sky radiation, appearance of indirect sunlight being Rayleigh scattering, scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc ha ...

and ''

The Kathmandu Post ''The Kathmandu Post'' is a major daily newspaper published in Nepal. Founded in February 1993 by Shyam Goenka, it is one of the largest English-language newspapers in the country. The newspaper is published by Kantipur Publications, the publ ...

'', and as a reportage editor with '' Papercuts Magazine''. Khatri is also one of the founders of the feminist collective

Girls at Dhabas Girls at Dhabas is a multi-city feminist initiative in Pakistan that raises a conversation on women’s access to public space. ''Dhabas'' is a local term for roadside tea-shops that are traditionally male-dominated domains in South Asia. The effor ...

Early life and education

Sadia Khatri graduated from

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States. It is the oldest member of the h ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, USA. She began as an Astronomy and Physics major and later added Journalism and Media Studies. Before coming to the United States, Khatri pursued photography as a hobby. Her interest in art and photography stems from her adventures in

’s art and culture scene. She often attended concerts, literary lectures and community art shows with her sister, Fiza Khatri, who also attended Mount Holyoke College. Similar to the US blog "

Humans of New York ''Humans of New York'' (''HONY'') is a photoblog and book of street portraits and interviews collected on the streets of New York City. Started in November 2010 by photographer Brandon Stanton, ''Humans of New York'' has developed a large foll ...

," Khatri blogged on the theme of "Humans of Pioneer Valley" during her college graduation period in the US. In 2011, Khatri took photographs of children who spend most of their time living by the roadside in commercial areas of Karachi. These photographs were displayed in an exhibit in Karachi. Underneath each photograph, there was a quote from the corresponding street child to convey their perspective on life through their own words.

Career

In her autobiographical essay "Fear and the City," which received a special citation in the recently announced Zeenat Haroon Rashid Writing Prize for Women, Khatri narrates her liberation through travel and struggle reclaiming public spaces in her hometown of Karachi, She ends her essay with her experience of a recent hate assault. She has worked as a journalist at

and

The Friday Times ''The Friday Times'' (TFT) is a Pakistani English-language online publication based in Lahore, Pakistan. History ''The Friday Times'' was first published in May 1989. TFT's founder-editor Najam Sethi and publisher Jugnu Mohsin, a husband-and- ...

. She also is a film critic. She also participated in Critic's Academy at the prestigious Locarno Film Festival. She also acted in a music video of a feminist anthem by all-girl band Garam Anday.

Feminism

Girls at Dhabas Khatri is one of the founders of the feminist collective

. The collective was born out of the daily frustrations of middle- and upper-class women experience who are forced to stay in safe locations and cannot go out alone without good reason. This led Khatri to think about the violence she had experienced at home, in private spaces, which was far greater than anything she had been subjected to on the streets. It made her see how safety was just an argument used to reinforce the private/public binary and to police the bodies and sexuality of women. Aurat March Khatri's was part of the organizing team for

Aurat March The Aurat March (, ) is an annual socio-political demonstration in Pakistani cities such as Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Peshawar and Islamabad to observe International Women's Day. The first Aurat Marches were begun by women's collec ...

in 2018 (women's march).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khatri, Sadia Pakistani women activists Pakistani women's rights activists Pakistani feminist writers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Date of birth missing (living people) Mount Holyoke College alumni Writers from Karachi 21st-century Pakistani women writers 21st-century photographers Pakistani photographers Pakistani women photographers 21st-century women photographers Feminist artists Locarno Film Festival