Has the pen or pencil dipped so deep in the blood of the human race as the needle?”
– Olive Schreiner
‘Bildungsroman (& Other Stories)’, presented by TARQ, Mumbai, is Areez Katki’s first solo exhibition in India that showcases the artist’s repertoire made over a duration of the past few years. The Parsi embroidery tradition, the prevailing technique adopted by the artist in this show, was passed on to him from his mother and grandmother in a home of Zoroastrian belief. In his works, while Katki transcends the defined realm of ‘feminine art’ and ‘craft’, he also permits his needle work to divulge his migrant and queer identity.
Using domestic cloths such as handkerchiefs, the artist stitches his stories in a fashion that somewhere departs from the extravagant, tedious manner of the Parsi embroidery and considers the intrinsic texture of the fabric as a significant backdrop.
Areez Katki is an artist and writer who has a background in Art History. His works have been displayed across Aotearoa, and internationally around Asia, North America and Europe and are held in various private and public collections. His writing has been published in Matters, Art News (NZ), The Pantograph Punch, Elle Magazine (India), Consider Journal, Waist, Saltwater Love, Turbine Kapohau and Lieu Journal. Since early 2020 Katki has been based in Te Whanganui a Tara Wellington, where he has crafted a hybrid body of writing, which culminated in a Master of Arts with Distinction from the International Institute of Modern Letters. Katki is represented by Tim Melville Gallery in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. He currently lives and works in Wellington, New Zealand.
Image courtesy of Tarq Mumbai
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