>> THE TITLE OF THE SHOW IS INSPIRED BY MY SISTER'S POEM AND OBVIOUSLY WE ARE WORKING WITH SIMILAR CONTENT AND SHE OFTEN WRITES ABOUT, YOU KNOW, OUR CHILDHOOD IN QUEENS, BUT OBVIOUSLY THE FAMILY HISTORY OF DISPLACEMENT WAS PRETTY SIGNIFICANT IN THE STORY.

IT WAS ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS THAT I WAS THINKING ABOUT FOR THIS SHOW, EVEN BEFORE THE WORK, AND THEN OBVIOUSLY AS THE WORK WAS BEING MADE BY ME, IT SUDDENLY OCCURRED TO ME THAT I SHOULD JUST USE THIS LINE FROM HER POEM.

IT SPOKE TO SO MUCH.

IT SPOKE TO, YOU KNOW, LANGUAGE, IT SPOKE TO POETRY, IT SPOKE TO BREADTH, IT SPOKE TO AESTHETIC AND STRUCTURE AND, OF COURSE, YOU KNOW, IMAGERY AND MATERIAL.

THIS IS A VERY SPECIFIC ARCHITECTURAL SPACE AND SO IT IS A VESSEL-LIKE SPACE AND SO IT KIND OF NARROWS AS WE WALK TOWARDS THE TWO-CHANNEL VIDEO.

SO WHAT I WANTED TO KIND OF THINK ABOUT, AND I THINK I SUCCEEDED, IS THAT I WANTED TO THINK ABOUT HOW THE VIEWER KIND OF WALKED THROUGH THE SPACE.

YOU KNOW, I FELT LIKE THE OBJECTS HOLD A LOT OF MEANING.

THEY WERE PLACED IN AREAS THAT OBSTRUCTED OR GUIDED THE VIEWER.

THE THEME OF THE EXHIBITION IS THE HISTORY OF MY OWN FAMILY'S DISPLACEMENT FROM AN AREA ON THE RIVER DUE TO THE BUILDING OF A HYDROELECTRIC DAM AND THAT DAM IS STILL BEING MAINTAINED AND CONTINUED TO BE, YOU KNOW, EXPANDED, AND THIS DISPLACEMENT KIND OF HAPPENED IN THE LATE '60s AND EARLY '70s.

SO MANY OF THE FAMILY MEMBERS THAT WERE DISPLACED ARE STILL LIVING AND SO I GOT TO GO BACK TO PAKISTAN.

THIS WAS NOT ONLY MY FAMILY, BUT ALSO MANY, MANY OTHER FAMILIES THAT WERE IN THAT AREA AND, YOU KNOW, UNTIL THIS DAY THEY HAVEN'T BEEN COMPENSATED, SOME OF THOSE FAMILIES.

I DEVELOPED MY WALL DRAWING PROCESS RIGHT HERE IN COLUMBUS, AND I WAS THINKING ABOUT WHILE, YOU KNOW, I WAS KIND OF MAKING THE WALL DRAWINGS AS AN MFA STUDENT, I WAS THINKING ABOUT ERASURE.

SO WHAT ART TRADITIONAL MATERIALS CAN BE ERASED?

THAT'S MANY, BUT I WAS FOCUSING ON CHARCOAL, GRAPHITE AND INK.

SO I WAS DIRECTLY PUTTING THOSE ON TO THE WALL AND THEN, YOU KNOW, USING MY BODY AND, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY HANDS TO ERASE THOSE MATERIALS.

AND SO FOR THIS WORK I WAS ALSO THINKING ABOUT HOW THE WALL DRAWINGS WILL DISAPPEAR AFTER A SHOW KIND OF IS OVER.

BASICALLY, YOU KNOW, I WOULD PAINT OVER IT OR, YOU KNOW, THE PREP TEAM WOULD PAINT OVER IT, AND SO THERE WOULD BE LAYERS AND LAYERS OF PAINT OVER TIME ON THIS WALL DRAWING THAT ONCE WAS, AND SO REALLY IT HASN'T DISAPPEARED.

JUST THINKING ABOUT LIKE THE HISTORY OF A WALL OR A SPACE.

AND SO ANOTHER STEP FURTHER WAS THE RAST WHICH WAS THE WALL DRAWING IN THE WEXNER CENTER FOR THE ARTS.

I WAS ALSO THINKING ABOUT WAYS IN WHICH THE WALL DRAWING COULD EVOLVE AND CHANGE WITHOUT ME THERE, AND ONE OF THE THINGS I WANTED -- I WAS EXPERIMENTING WITH IN THE STUDIO IS CLAY, BECAUSE WHEN I WENT ON THIS JOURNEY ON THE INDES RIVER BACK IN MARCH 2022 I FOUND THAT THE BOTTOM OF THIS, YOU KNOW, HISTORICAL RIVER IS COVERED IN SILT AND CLAY.

IT HAS COMPLETELY CHANGED THE ECOSYSTEM OF THE INDES RIVER.

SO I TOOK CLAY FROM OHIO AND, ON THE WALL.

AND SO YOU SEE THE CLAY KIND OF DRAWING AND FALLING APART AND THE DRAWING THAT I CREATED ON THE WALL IS A MAPPING OF SORTS, A MAPPING OF, YOU KNOW, A VILLAGE WALL OR EVEN A MOSQUE FORMATION.

SO ALL THAT HAS JUST BEEN DRAWING AND FALLING APART, FALLING ON TO THE GROUND.

OTHER THINGS THAT ARE ON THAT WALL DRAWING ARE CHARCOAL AND INK AND GRAPHITE AND DENIM THAT'S PRESSED INTO THE WALL THAT EVOKES THE INDIS RIVER AND THEN THERE'S ALSO A STRUCTURE THAT KIND OF HOLDS A SECURITY CAMERA THAT'S IN THE SPACE AND THAT STRUCTURE IS A TENT.

YOU CAN KIND OF SEE THE TAUT ROPES THAT EXTEND OUT OF THAT TENT-LIKE DRAWING AND THOSE TAUT ROPES ARE HELD DOWN BY SANDBAGS.

SO IT CREATES A BARRIER, YOU KNOW, THE VIEWER CAN'T WALK UP INTO THE SPACE, THEY CAN JUST WATCH IT KIND OF FALLING APART.

THE CLAY KIND OF FALLS DIRECTLY ON THE FLOOR, BUT ALSO ON THE FLOOR YOU WILL SEE BURNT BRANCHES, AND THOSE BRANCHES ARE ACTUALLY FROM A BOX ELDER TREE THAT HAD FALLEN OVER, YOU KNOW, A THREE-YEAR PERIOD IN MY YARD IN COLUMBUS AND I HAD JUST, YOU KNOW, COLLECTED IT OVER TIME AND HAD BONFIRES WITH FRIENDS WHERE WE TALKED ABOUT GRIEF AND LOSS.

I THINK THE REASON I MAKE WORK IS I FEEL LIKE THAT'S THE ONLY WAY I CAN COMMUNICATE AND I AM THE MOST HAPPIEST WHEN I'M CREATING, AND I THINK THAT'S A BIG PART OF WHY I CREATE.

YOU KNOW, I GREW UP IN A PAKISTANI-MUSLIM HOUSEHOLD AND THE ONLY SIGNIFICANT OTHER CREATIVE PERSON THAT I SAW WAS MY OLDER SISTER.

AND THEN, YOU KNOW, WHEN I WENT OUT INTO THE WORLD, YOU KNOW, NEW YORK CITY AND JERSEY AND, YOU KNOW, COLUMBUS, OHIO, I WAS SEEKING COMMUNITY AND I WAS SEEKING PEOPLE THAT KIND OF LOOKED LIKE ME AND, YOU KNOW, WERE THINKING OF THEMES THAT I WAS WORKING WITH, AND WHEN I FOUND THOSE PEOPLE AND THOSE -- YOU KNOW, THOSE ARTISTS, MAINLY VISUAL ARTISTS, IT JUST REALLY TOUCHED ME AND I FIND THAT MY WORK DOES THE SAME FOR A YOUNGER GENERATION AND THAT, YOU KNOW, I'M ALSO AN EDUCATOR AND SO AT THE OHIO STATE AND SO THAT IS, I THINK, VERY POWERFUL AND REALLY FEEDS THE WORK IN MANY WAYS.