Yearning for the Past, 1964

I graduated from National College of Arts (NCA) in April’21 by completing my degree in Design ((Major Textile). I plan to continue my practice as a Textile Artist / Visual Artist. I love to curate my ideas with the mediums of Textile. Initially I started to work on the narrative of “Historical Nostalgia” for my Thesis project and came up with the series visuals done in hand embroidery under the title of “Qadeem”.

Abstract

Letters to Pakistan’21

This work revolves around the idea of historical nostalgia. When we talk about historical nostalgia, we unknowingly romanticize the past era therefore it is also yearning for the past. A past which we never have seen but only heard about. Pakistan has turned 74 years old this August, technology and digital media has affected our lives massivelymaking a lot of things easier for us but there is something which makes us crave and nostalgic for the simpler times when the only sources of information were radios, books and newspapers. This work is an expression of the artistbringing focus on time of the past.

As a kid I have heard several stories from my grandmother of how things were different in their times and seen photographs which I believe have left a permanent stain on my heart to romanticize their time period. This artwork displays a scene from winters of 1964 where I have portrayed myself in the place of my grandmother enjoying the evening tea.