gōlī’āṁ khā la’ī’āṁ hana? (u taken ur tablets?) (2023)
Yasmeen Fathima Thantrey
The process of research is critical to Yasmeen’s artistic practice, with a focus on reclaiming the personal archive of documentation generated by encounters with bureaucratic healthcare systems. Digesting over a decade of data is labour-intensive, leading the artist to consider time as a crucial theme within their work: time lost, given, and taken have become significant when reflecting on their experiences with chronic illness and disability.
This work – part of an ongoing project – aims to unpack the wealth of collected data in an effort to reclaim Yasmeen’s body, mind, and time while navigating the complexities of childhood and racial bias among other intersecting barriers through performance, moving image, sound, and installation.
While making the work, Yasmeen became aware of the rush to be productive whilst not in a flare-up and to overcompensate for time lost due to her medical conditions. Inspired by artist Roo Dhissou’s commitment to Aram (آرام) and her own Punjabi culture and connection to the word, Yasmeen has adopted a slower practice: doing things with aram allows time, calmness, attention, and gentle reflection.
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