Miniature Gold
This piece is a screenprint about gold used in Indian and Mogul miniature paintings and how it has hidden symbolism. For this ‘inspired’ V&A residency, I searched for a collection of museum items that closely related to my Final Major Project, which was the South Asian tradition of passing gold jewellery down to generations of women. I was drawn towards the collection of Indian miniatures and portraits in the South and South East Asia Collection.
After further research, I decided to explore how Indian miniatures had used gold to create symbolism in their narrative of the portrait. I investigated the significance of gold in South Asia, particularly its association with the inheritance of gold jewellery among women. My goal is to use the findings from both projects to showcase the symbolism of gold within South Asian communities and to understand its deep-rooted cultural significance of why gold is gifted affectionately to women.
After further research, I decided to explore how Indian miniatures had used gold to create symbolism in their narrative of the portrait. I investigated the significance of gold in South Asia, particularly its association with the inheritance of gold jewellery among women. My goal is to use the findings from both projects to showcase the symbolism of gold within South Asian communities and to understand its deep-rooted cultural significance of why gold is gifted affectionately to women.
Golden Affection
This project is a love letter to my mother.
Before her passing, she had given me her collection of gold jewellery, a physical collection of financial security. A tradition passed down in the community of South Asian women, where historically they once had no assets of their own, had used jewellery as a commodity to help invest in any financial crisis. In my mother’s eyes, this was her way of looking after me after her passing. However, for me, this collection was an embodiment of her legacy and a sign of love from my mother.
I created a series of prints highlighting the tradition of passing gold jewellery and the duality of commodity and sentimental value passed through each generation of women. It illustrates the older generations’ view of gold jewellery being sold and used as an emergency fund in a crisis, to the new generations valuing the emotional embodiment of their mother and ancestors. It has a small zine alongside it, narrating this embodiment of love from the historical to the current significance of gold jewellery in South Asian women’s lives.
Before her passing, she had given me her collection of gold jewellery, a physical collection of financial security. A tradition passed down in the community of South Asian women, where historically they once had no assets of their own, had used jewellery as a commodity to help invest in any financial crisis. In my mother’s eyes, this was her way of looking after me after her passing. However, for me, this collection was an embodiment of her legacy and a sign of love from my mother.
I created a series of prints highlighting the tradition of passing gold jewellery and the duality of commodity and sentimental value passed through each generation of women. It illustrates the older generations’ view of gold jewellery being sold and used as an emergency fund in a crisis, to the new generations valuing the emotional embodiment of their mother and ancestors. It has a small zine alongside it, narrating this embodiment of love from the historical to the current significance of gold jewellery in South Asian women’s lives.
The Little Big World
As part of a new collective 'Oops Orange', we opened a small exhibition in Peckham Levels.
Being surrounded by nature is such a norm that we donʼt realise the extraordinary within it. We are constantly looking for aesthetics and beauty that we seek through other regions and landscapes that we donʼt notice it in our daily lives, so much so that we take it for granted. In this illustration, I focused on nature and sceneries that I nd charming in my local walks and highlighted them in this print. I believe within our world, live little universes of the strange and wonderful that belong to nature that we surround ourselves with.
What's next? - Tarot Cards and Fortune Booth
For my Final Year Project, I wanted to focus on my uncertainty for the future after graduating. I created a set of fortune cards and made them personal to me while showcasing them in my Fortune Booth and giving the guests their fortunes.
Community Project - Tablecloth Ice-rink
Digitally printed fabric for the ice rink and snowflake design, Linocut the ice-skaters and made them into stamps. This table set was designed to be interactive and showcase the community, as shown through the numbers of stamped ice skaters and the personalities of those who stamped them. This project was showcased at the Group for International Design Education programme (GIDE) in Lugano, Switzerland.
