Artistic Research
Decolonial Research through Collective Remembrance
My work revolves around untangling the violent threads of colonial history, especially those deeply embedded in the personal—our homes, our families, and our memories. This ongoing research, a decolonial practice at its core, seeks to challenge the histories written by the colonizers, reframing the narrative through lived experiences that have been left behind, forgotten, or purposefully erased. My own family’s history serves as a starting point, but the questions I’m asking transcend my personal sphere: How do we remember what has been taken from us? And how do we reclaim the stories that colonial systems have buried?
I employ collective remembrance as the main research tool in this journey—a methodology that draws from ethnography and anthropology but reshapes it into something more fluid, more personal. It’s about sitting with my Nani, with my family, and using oral histories, old photographs, VHS tapes, and even mundane objects like passports and boarding cards, to reconstruct what has been forgotten. These artifacts and memories are not just remnants of the past—they are active players in a dialogue between generations. By bringing these elements into the present, we reconstruct the stories of displacement, survival, and resilience.
The episodic nature of my research mirrors the ongoingness of decolonial work—it doesn’t happen in a single moment. It stretches across time, just as trauma and memory do. In *Ghar*, for instance, the first episode begins with my Nani’s story—the Partition, the forced migration from Mumbai to Karachi, and her struggle to build a new home. But this is only the beginning. Each episode allows me to dive deeper, uncovering layers of colonial impact through different family members, different places, and different times.
For example, my collective remembrance exercises often start with something as simple as a photograph or a VHS tape I’ve digitized. I show these to my Nani, and what follows is a raw, unfiltered conversation about what that image or moment meant to her. Her reactions guide me—sometimes laughter, sometimes silence, sometimes tears. These unscripted moments become the foundation of my research, giving me an authentic lens through which to understand the trauma and strength that have shaped my family’s story. And in turn, I understand more about how colonialism continues to shape us today.
This approach—this deliberate act of remembering together—creates space for healing, both personal and collective. It’s an ongoing process, one that will span many more episodes and continue long after this phase of the project ends. But through each moment of remembering, we take back a little more of what was lost. And for me, that’s where the real power of decolonial research lies.
will be a 20-minute video work followed by an art publication, carefully crafted to unveil the intimate struggles of my Nani (Grandmother), a Bombay (now Mumbai) soul in a post-1947 Karachi, sculpting her identity from the fragments of a divided homeland. By employing collective remembrance, an ethnographic research tool to investigate collective memory, this work is to intricately weave unscripted conversations, archival treasures, and emotive reenactments. It also seeks to transcend familial narratives, foregrounding neo-colonial discourse to offer an earnest reflection on identity, resilience, and the nuanced interplay of the consequences of colonial decisions.
Immersed in the socio-cultural fabric of Karachi post-1947, "Ghar" charts the arduous journey of my Nani in search of a new home. It includes unscripted conversations, augmented by the archival elements of old photographs, VHS tapes, dinners, and period music; the project seeks to reconstruct the narrative surrounding the loss of homes post the Partition of India. Revisiting places of significant importance to my “Nani” including Korangi, (The Neighbourhood where she first arrived as a refugee, and Port-side areas of Karachi along with the bridge of Native jetty stress a great deal of influence upon the premise of this video work. Furthermore, it winds together the personal struggles of my Nani with oral testimonies addressing historic and contemporary British violence in Pakistan and India.
This project is currently in its post-production phase with a subsequent premiere and exhibition following later in May 2024.
