Bul Bul ka Bacha, A Rhyme, 2016, graphite, black spray paint and ink on paper, 96 x 110 inches
I use a hand-cut stencil from vinyl to trace and repeat the text of an Urdu lullaby titled “Bul Bul ka Bacha,” which translates to “Nightingale’s Child.” The owner of the bird, gendered as a young male, narrates the lullaby. He cares for the bird until he sends the bird away. The bird never returns. In this work, the stencil becomes a tool to re-learn this lullaby as an adult and then trace and repeat the gendered verbs.
The lullaby was written on a twenty-foot standard drawing paper scroll with graphite, ink, spray paint and charcoal. The text was repeated in English and Urdu, upside down, sideways, backwards, horizontal and vertical. I layered, scraped, erased, and covered the text. The scroll was then cut into even rectangles and then gridded to install on the wall.
The close-up detail of “Bul Bul Ka Bacha” emphasizes the the grid installation. This installation to form a rectangular grid echoes the restrictive tools I use: the primer, the stencil, the traditional art material, the grid and how I break these forms by erasing, smearing, fracturing so the text is now illegible but still evokes a sense of fleet and escape.
I use a hand-cut stencil from vinyl to trace and repeat the text of an Urdu lullaby titled “Bul Bul ka Bacha,” which translates to “Nightingale’s Child.” The owner of the bird, gendered as a young male, narrates the lullaby. He cares for the bird until he sends the bird away. The bird never returns. In this work, the stencil becomes a tool to re-learn this lullaby as an adult and then trace and repeat the gendered verbs.
The lullaby was written on a twenty-foot standard drawing paper scroll with graphite, ink, spray paint and charcoal. The text was repeated in English and Urdu, upside down, sideways, backwards, horizontal and vertical. I layered, scraped, erased, and covered the text. The scroll was then cut into even rectangles and then gridded to install on the wall.
The close-up detail of “Bul Bul Ka Bacha” emphasizes the the grid installation. This installation to form a rectangular grid echoes the restrictive tools I use: the primer, the stencil, the traditional art material, the grid and how I break these forms by erasing, smearing, fracturing so the text is now illegible but still evokes a sense of fleet and escape.