36X48"
Mixed media, glaze and mirrow on canvas

Dislocation
explores the act of moving, migration, relocation from a historical or contemporary perspective and makes an effort to examine the change of identity of the object or subject, as we know it. Mississauga is a city of migrants and their desire to identify themselves in the Diaspora has created a fascination with cultural and religious practices. Exploration of Human displacement across state line and borders (physical and cultural), and what it entails in terms of space, time and sense of loss or discovery are the intriguing elements of this exhibition.


I chose to isolate three subjects and interview them on their thoughts regarding their move to the US. How did their preconceived ideas and beliefs influence their settling into a new climate, environment, culture? The result was an outburst of emotion and expression which was unexpected from a group that I considered fairly “private” or emotionally unavailable. To be clearer, these three individuals were coming from traditional family backgrounds with a culture that became increasingly difficult to adhere to in this country.

So what is tradition and how is it forcibly altered when we move from the place that we learned it from? Many of the emotions we feel are purely based on the beliefs and routines we are taught to adapt to by our parents, family. These beliefs seem ground in stone at least that is what I learned from my subjects. So what are the major factors that cause these stones to break when we migrate? One is language and of course having to adapt successfully to the new language of our new surroundings as well as learning the new culture and routes to get around.

I have a painting that is made to reflect this metaphor of how this phenomenon affects the human psyche. It is done with glass writing done in the language of the subjects which is Urdu and the background is mixed media. The writing translates to say “I have lost my being. I have lost my culture, my language, my natural way to express with words of my choice. My words are insignificant. My world is incomplete.

This process helped me to understand my mother who had also emigrated to Canada when I was 4. She had always seemed like a formidable being who always tried to teach or enforce her cultural beliefs to me. I couldn't, of course, always comprehend the attachment to the foreign culture and sometimes her emotional attachment and loss of these values but now do.