Artist Statement

While in a residency in Poland, I came across many different languages. During the daily sessions where artists from various parts of Europe shared their work, there was always an interpreter facilitating our understanding of what was being expressed.

I began to wonder what is lost in translation, and how dependent we become, sometimes unconsciously, on the interpreter. So much can be, and often is, lost in translation.

This led me to reflect on my own thinking process, which begins in Urdu, gets translated into English, and was then further interpreted into Polish. It made me consider how to hold on to the sound and vastness of a language through all these layers.

As I listened to the many voices around me, I became curious about how Urdu might sound to others, how it dances and plays in unfamiliar ears.

This particular work was created using dried leaves, gently pushed into a metal fence. The delicacy and impermanence of the material mirrored the fragility of my emotional state at the time. The verse by Faiz, “Aaj bazaar mein pa-ba-jolaan chalo,” carried both conceptual resonance and served as a personal homage to that space or state of being.

I believe I managed to bring out the lyrical quality of the text, if not its full sound.

Interestingly, a fellow Urdu speaker later pointed out that one of the spellings in the piece was incorrect, perhaps echoing the small shifts, slips, and distortions that occur in every act of translation. But maybe that’s the point. Every moment, word, gesture, and mark carries its own truth, imperfect, yet always in service of something meaningful.