Arts Thread

Human lives revolve around stories. We are raised absorbing fairy tales, fables, legend, lore and most poignantly, collections of family anecdotes. It is a very human nature to question the story of one’s origins and seek an understanding for one’s place in this world. Children who grow with the presence of grandparents and family elders are often privy to stories of old and gold and are blessed with retellings of life in a time so vastly different to their present day. But when one’s ancestry stretches beyond the borders, to a country far from what one considers their current home, trying to imagine the lives of far-gone ancestors that brought us to this point becomes even more difficult and often intangible. Gathering stories from my grandparents' elusive pasts before they migrated from India in the mid 20th Century, I compiled narratives, memories and anecdotes into an illustrative book form. Alongside these images, I narrated the stories that inspired me, giving a direct link between the image and the piece if history it came from. My hope is that this ancestral history will continue to stay alive in the generations beyond me. Despite having no physical connection the one’s roots, it is so important children never lose their original identities and erase a part of them that is so culturally rich and beautiful simply because they had nothing to keep as a record.