Using time and place as anchors for our conversation, I tracked my father’s trajectory during the decade he spent as an illegal immigrant in New Zealand from 1974-1984. Slowly this evolved into mapping our migratory journey as a lineage and community - from the moment of our displacement, throughout Fiji, to New Zealand and finally Australia. Everywhere that led us here. Each rectangle and circle in the images below is a coin or stamp sized copperplate, cut and filed by hand and etched with part of a location or terrain traversed by us.

The final iteration of this project was the creation of 5 unique prints reimagining the prayer mat or musallah as a print based object, each representative of a an Islamic time of prayer. The musalla exists as a sacred object, its pattern work often reflecting the origins of its maker. Inherent to its lifeforce is a passage of time, the rising and sinking sun marking times of prayer in a day; and navigation, pointing its owner to the direction of the Kaaba. The object is imbued with peace, signifying sanctity wherever it may lay. The final patterns in each print include over 300 plates that are inked and laid into formation, with each prayer mat printed in one 18 hour sitting, from Fajr to Isha.

This series of prints are an attempt to heal through repetitive and labour intensive processes, mirroring the labour of my ancestors. It is also a means of seeking autonomy in the reimagining of traditional practices, and of reinforcing often tenuous intergenerational bonds through acknowledgment and dialogue.