The roof above my head is displaced

To the bone that carries the burden

The burden of what and where home is

The burden of who decides

When my home is illegitimate

 

Holding on to what was

And what is left

Precariously, I tread

The ground they threaten to shake.

 

In my durational performance (2 hours) Akupāra, I positioned my naked body on all fours and balanced a stack of 5-6 terracotta roof tiles on my back and moved slowly. I, intermittently, undulated my spine by arching it up and down and incoherently voiced the syllables of the word ‘Azaadi’ (an Urdu word that translates to freedom). The action took place in the corner of a basement for the duration of two hours. The work elucidates the precariousness of ‘home’ and the politics of the personal and social that influence the notion of home. Akupāra was based on the foundation of transgressing my physical, political and socio-cultural boundaries through engaging with the materiality of my body and another object to address a socio-political issue that was urgent for me. This work was birthed from the deep sense of uncertainty, loss, rage and fear that resulted due to the CAA and NRC laws and the current socio-political situation in India. It questions the power of authority figures to determine the fate of identity and belonging of its people. The work brings to light the constant state of risk that is present in holding on to the notion of home and the constant potential of loss of that home and sense of belonging. It brings to surface the suppression, oppression, struggle and immense endurance that is required to sustain, hold and fight for your home and freedom.