Debut of an Eidolon Grant supported project

Join us at Frere Hall Gardens, Karachi from Friday 6 March to Sunday 8 March, 8–12 pm, for the launch of JUGAAR, A Pakistani Guide to Aspirational Living — a book launch and Eidolon Grant supported exhibition celebrating the vivid world of festival montage photography in Pakistan.

For the first time, JUGAAR offers an in-depth look at the montage studios that appear at fairs and festivals across Pakistan, where colour, ambition, fantasy and faith are hand-crafted to photographic dreams.

The original father–son duo Zahid and Zeeshan will set up their studio on site, creating free Jugaar montages throughout the evening. Drop in, sit down, and be transformed.

Published by Fraglich Publishing and Folio Books, the book will be available at the launch.

Created by Matthieu Paley, Lukas Birk, and Zarmeene Shah, this project brings a fresh take on aspirational image-making and the poetry of improvised studios.

This work was supported by the Eidolon Grant programme of Eidolon Centre for Everyday Photography.

Read more about JUGAAR:

Supported by the Eidolon Grant, photographer and researcher Lukas Birk and National Geographic photographer Matthieu Paley travelled to the Urs festival in Sehwan, Pakistan, to document the remarkable world of itinerant studio photographers who craft digital collage portraits for pilgrims seeking a momentary glimpse of a different life. The result is a rich, deeply researched essay on vernacular photography as a living practice of aspiration, self-fashioning, and community, rooted in a tradition stretching back to the Box Camera photographers of the 19th century. Read the full essay on Eidolon Journal.