With this series I explore the social and cultural decay veiled behind ideas of ‘Family Honour’, ‘Economic Progress’ and ‘Development’. Irony, hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance at varying rungs of our socio-economic structures. From the theft of forested lands from our indigenous populations and the loss of animal habitats to urban development to the concealment of abuse within families to preserve 'honour'.

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In the later works of this series, the graphite is laid directly onto primed boards, leaving no space for erasure. Every line drawn, whether right or erroneous, must remain within the artwork. A gesture of raw, austere and enduring honesty in response to the murky nature of its subject matter. The leaves that I weave into these works are fragments of lived memories of a child from decades ago, who took refuge in a tiny balcony, watching the sunlight travel across the trees as the birds tenderly nested and fed their young. 

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The subject of family honour is especially significant to me. Here, I draw from my childhood experiences with abuse and oppression and attempt to represent the shared reality of a multitude of families across my country (and beyond). These works are a conversation about the inequality and suffering that we normalize and pass down the generations like family heirlooms. By enforcing gender roles in children. By holding them to different moral standards. By bringing up daughters to serve and sons to be served. By suppressing daughters who speak up and shaming sons who reveal vulnerability. By looking the other way when a child reaches out for help in the face of abuse. By silencing children who call out their abuser and denying their reality to "preserve the honour of the family".

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