Rhythms We Cannot Unlearn 2024-2025

16' x 20 ' approx. Silk, organza, cotton, velvet, Dupioni, Banarasi Brocade, polyester fiber, chiffon, human hair extensions and human hair.

This installation suspends a horizontal punkah fan above soft sculptural forms crafted from traditional South Asian banarasi fabric, connected by a frail braid made from human hair. The textile sculptures hang from the roof, creating a static tableau that references the colonial history of punkah wallahs, individuals often chosen for their deafness whose bodies were systematically depleted to provide comfort to British colonizers. Living with Prurigo Nodularis in Pakistan exposed me to beauty standards that are themselves colonial inheritances; through this suspended arrangement, the installation visualizes how contemporary Pakistani society remains tethered to rhythms set by Western cultural hegemony, transforming forgotten histories of bodily servitude into testimonies that challenge which bodies are valued and which remain invisible.