The work with the title “irritating borders” consists of the one sound work entitled “Waterly (waterways)” and one drawing with graphite on paper. The sound work is based on a poetic text with the same title which I wrote especially for the sound piece.

The work emerged in response to the shipwreck off the coast of Pylos, Greece, in June 2023, in which 79 people died, 104 were rescued, and hundreds remained missing. Most of those aboard were migrants, primarily from Pakistan. Approaching water as both witness and carrier of memory, the work explores the entanglement of human and more-than-human bodies. Drawing on Astrida Neimanis's and Janine MacLeod´s hydrofeminist thinking, the work asks what happens to memory when the fluids circulating through our bodies, and those that sustain us connect us to other (more-than-human) bodies?

Engaging with the notion of watery borders, the work also draws on Gloria Anzaldúa's concept of Nepantla: a liminal space of in-betweenness, contradiction, and ongoing transformation, where boundaries become unstable and new forms of relation emerge.

The text moves between English, Urdu, Greek, and Turkish, allowing different linguistic textures and meanings to flow into one another.

The sound composition combines multiple voices, rhythmic patterns, field recordings of bodies of water, harmonies, and modular synthesis. Narration and sonic waves intertwine into a polyphonic, multilingual soundscape, where fragments of speech transform into beats, rhythms, and melodic patterns.

Originally created for the exhibition House of Kal at nGbK, Berlin, in September 2023.

House of Kal is part of the transoceanic platform, a language where yesterday and tomorrow are the same word. House of Kal is collectively cared for by Aziza Ahmad, Promona Sengupta and The Many Headed Hydra (Aziz Sohail, Suza Husse, Emma Wolf-Haugh).

You can read the text here: