Another Life

I make with what is here. In Islamabad, that means tailoring remnants, wedding stationery, Urdu pages, inherited papers and cloth that has already been used or worn. These are not substitutes for supposedly ideal art materials. They are the vocabulary of my work.

I compose intuitively, allowing colour, wear, texture and previous use to determine what comes next. A torn edge can become a pocket; an uneven fold can redirect the structure; a repair can remain visible. The result is not an imitation of another place’s craft tradition, but a record of this place, these materials and this hand.

I am an intuitive maximalist. I create one-of-a-kind, hand-bound artist journals that explore memory, inheritance, nature and the histories held within everyday materials. Working in Islamabad, Pakistan, I bring embroidered garment fragments, wedding stationery, sari silk, lace, Urdu pages, inherited correspondence and reclaimed papers into richly layered book forms.

I do not begin with a fixed plan or an ideal list of supplies. I work with what is here and let each material tell me what comes next. Through stitching, distressing and collage, pockets conceal fragments, folds delay discovery and page sequences bring different histories into conversation. I do not erase age, unevenness or repair; these traces are part of the work’s life.

I do not make minimal books. I want each journal to feel abundant, tactile and alive—to reward the person willing to hold it, open it and look slowly. Birds, butterflies, gardens and seasonal change connect me to the divine and return as signs of transformation and renewal. Through these books, I consider what we choose to preserve and how attention can give memory another form.