Saad Latif

داستان کھیسداستان کھیس

Rusted Echoes of Punjab

In Punjab’s weaving circles, KHES duvets once carried the voices of women whose spinning wheels turned alongside Urdu folk songs. These heirloom textiles, crafted for bridal dowries and homebound trunks, embedded personal histories into every warp and weft. With the advent of industrial looms, the rhythms of KHES fell silent, and its custodians faded into obscurity.

Unfolds an exploration of traditions at risk of disappearance. Iron oxide is extracted from discarded metal rods and kitchen utensils, then added splashes of Disperse Brown G pigment. The rust-infused pigment permeates both handloom and industrial textiles. Choosing 100 % natural handloom fabric pays homage to artisans and fosters sustainable employment. In contrast, incorporating industrial dead stock textiles highlights how mechanisation has supplanted traditional craft labor. Upon these surfaces, fragments of weavers’ lyrical verses are overlaid in vibrant typefaces. Successive print passes reveal these words in bold clarity before allowing them to erode into abstraction. Color variation deepens as subtle oxidation patterns evolve over time. Sublimation printing introduces photographic portraits of artisans, embedding faces and hands among the rusted landscapes. These images undergo the same gradual fading.

The work, invites tactile engagement with KHES’ layered pasts. As each textile unfurls through fray vivid edges and holes, catches viewers attention between revelation and concealment, becoming part of a living archive. It seeks from people to Ignites tomorrow’s artisans to inherit and advance the crafts that define their cultural identity.