Unravelling (2024)

Through a constellation of poetic words and the residues of history Unravelling (2024) is a proposition and provocation to locate myself in a culture where colonial systems have sought to flatten and simplify my heritage.

These works gently unravel my family story of migration traversing three continents – India, Africa and the UK crossing over a century. The journey begins with my great-grandfather’s family departing India in 1908 to settle in Njoro, Kenya, as economic migrants during the construction of the East African railway by the British Empire. It continues with my grandfather relocating to Kampala, Uganda, with his young family in 1966, only to be exiled in 1972 under the dictatorship of Idi Amin, in which 90,000 Asians were displaced. Culminating with my parent’s marriage in the UK in 1984.

By working with a handful of photographs, some over 80 years old, depicting many who are no longer with us, these interconnected collages reflect on what was lost in 1972 when only a few possessions could be taken from Uganda. How does the absence of images shape the stories we are told? What do I find when I search for myself within the archive?

Conveyed through the gestural marks of gouache, the textures of gold leaf and the traces of silhouettes all represent the vastness of stories as well as the voids of lost narratives. By weaving together a multiplicity of histories through images and signs, they provide a language capable of conveying a spectrum of emotions—from pain to joy—and bring to light a narrative of resilience, community, and kinship.

The interplay of archive and myth unveil the complexities, ambiguities and tensions inherent in diasporic experiences. For me, these multi-layered collages serve as a portal to imagine encounters with my ancestors, allowing me to insert myself alongside their shadows, as an act of remembering to place their histories, experiences and strength.

Interventions on archival family photographs, gouache, 24-karat gold, ink, archival pen, 19th century postcard on pigment print and ultra-violet silhouette portrait on glass. Each 37.5 x 47.5 cm (unique)
Commissioned by UAL Decolonising Arts Institute 20/20 programme x National Museums Northern Ireland.