Your honor is my honor

This work stems from my practice of manipulation of objects from the urban landscape that I belong to and this work also reflects evident elements of my sculptural practice such as use of multiples and transformation in the process that’s an obvious recurring theme in my work. Multiples of a single object, bangles in this case are used to construct a larger object i.e. the ladder. Ladder, an object mostly in use outside the domestic realm can strongly be associated with the male gender with regards to heavy manual labor outdoors who is considered to be the provider of the family. The work is a critique on contemporary society as the ladder constructed out of bangles exposes the imposition of a hypocritical and repressed feminine culture. It shed lights on the concept of female servitude contributing to and enhancing male honor (ghairat) that is not a new concept in the Subcontinent at large. It’s a depiction of nature of gender relations in Pakistan, since it is the poisonous nature of the male chauvinist culture that is responsible for much of the violence directed at women, both in the domestic and public realms. This disparity in gender relations is obviously not of now and can be traced back to the times when Muslims strengthened institutions of religion and family in an attempt to keep away from Western values and as a result women in society occupied a central role in embodying the values and honor of the nation.

Your honor is my honor (2017)

Mixed-media installation

Dimensions (Approx): 43×6×305 (cm)

Material: Bangles

(Displayed at 63 Commissiarat for Karachi Biennale 2017)