Expressions of Love

'Expressions of Love' as part of Margate Festival 2020 (and curated by People Dem Collective). It's a very personal piece that celebrates the beauty of my Punjabi-Indian heritage and love.

Cotton choonis (dupattas/shawls/scarves) screen printed using Punjabi text and hung against a backdrop of hessian.

Born from a desire to preserve the poetic blessings from her grandma in India, the hanging scarves symbolise the power and beauty of language, the gift of love, and its ability to transcend oceans, borders and realms. The scarves are offered as a love story to those that left their ancestral lands to migrate to the West, in pursuit of safety, security, prosperity and adventure, and to those like Jas’s grandma that had to let them go.

A chooni is an item of clothing worn by women and elders in Punjab, most often draped over the head and shoulders, as a symbol of modesty, respect and dignity. It also has many practical uses, and is used to protect the wearer and often their child from the sun, soothe a child when they’ve hurt themselves, a playful item to entertain a child, something to protect hands from hot items in the kitchen, and is even used to wrap around the head to ease headaches.