The idea of the artist book on “Project Home-The Word For World Is Home” has been triggered by the present circumstances, our existence, migration, creating boundaries and a complete apathy to the “Other”. And the contradiction of innate values of universal brotherhood, vasudevaye kutumbakum (the world is a family). taken from the philosophical concept of tatvamasi ( I am that or thou art that) ;further to a space of no boundaries. Project Home was presented as a performative exhibition by KCC, Kolkata in 2019.
Through subtle personal narrations about my family’s lost ancestral land and heritage in Jhelum district, memories of forced political migration, displacement, and loss of the motherland after the partition.
“And while I paint the stories of boundaries, partitions of lands,
waters, rain, sun, moon, and skies.
Of the relationships of people, cattle, trees, home, and love;
I wander off into the forgotten lands of my parents
and ancestors with an ache of nostalgia.
It’s all about a home called the world.”
With this limited edition hand drawn artist book I want to express all this with new text, as zinc plate etching prints in30 pages.
Each book will also have hand pasted herbs, the leaves of various plants/trees found across the borders and 24kt gold leafing procured from traditional craftsmen. They still continue to make the gold-leaf by the process of hand pounding the gold.
The script of the book would be hand done.
Finally these are going to be hand bound into ten editions and two AP.
I would like to elaborate a bit on the text for the artist book, its going to be fresh poetic prose written in English and hand scripted.
The text would be more of my conversation responding with the images that are of herbs, land and waters, hikmat the profession of my ancestors which was in close connection with earth, minerals and touch. I would have to research various aspects of past and contemporary time and its connection with the aspects that I have mentioned here.
Apart from this, the whole world has changed, times have changed, human values have changed, the way of life has changed, the principles of people have changed, but rather to say the entire history of time has changed its course. It is very justified that we have the desire to know our existence, our roots, our history. Then the period of partition was also seen by these people, how they breathed new breath in this life along with their broken hearts, enriched their lives and also enriched the lives of the people connected with their lives.
While reading this artist book, you will also be able to feel a glimpse of that changing era, this is my endeavour.
“I take a flight over all the love, hate,
blood and slaughter
over ideas and idols
over religions and politics
come fly with me
The Word for World is Home”
