11/06/2019
Mariam Magsi
KABILAY KI BAITI ( Daughter of the Tribe)
Silver-halide prints, Kodak Premium Metallic Paper
This ongoing series of photographs, videos and performances, turns the lens inward. It examines contemporary Baloch identity through a postcolonial lens, and a reclamation of clothing, cultural practices, ritual, veiling practices, folklore and spirituality. The artist belongs to the indigenous Magsi tribe from Balochistan, Pakistan. She is veiled with a Balochi chador in one portrait. A hand-embroidered, velvet Quran cover masks her identity in the second image. She is wearing loose, Balochi clothing covered in hand-embroidered mirror work, and silk thread stitching. This style of garment is conducive to the Magsi tribe and was stitched and embroidered by the painstaking efforts, skill and craft of the indigenous women of the Magsi tribe.
Historically and even today, Baloch tribes and clans are highly patriarchal and patrilineal, with low visibility, involvement and inclusion of women in public spaces. This work, as many of Magsi’s other exhibited and published projects, also represents resistance to patriarchy. The pieces navigate the burden of centuries old patriarchal honour codes, carefully balancing and negotiating a life governed by custom, while also attempting to break free from the very barriers that limit her.
Mariam Magsi is a Pakistani-Canadian Multidisciplinary Artist, working in Photography, Video, Performance, Installation and other arts. Magsi confronts the violence that spaces inflict on particular bodies navigating contemporary spaces. Magsi’s practice, amongst other issues, focuses on examining veiling, food, cultural and religious rituals, the diversity of the desi diaspora and more. Magsi’s works have been featured on CNN, VICE Canada, Scene Arabia, Toronto Star as well as renowned galleries and festivals.
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Documentation: Jocelyn Reynolds @ Daniels Spectrum
