Well, Come Back Home

The following body of work is inspired by a poem written by Shanal Kazi, which served as the central prompt for the exhibition Well, Come Back Home. Curated by Kazi, the show included my work along with pieces by 49 other artists, all responding to the underlying narratives and reflections within the poem.

The Poem

We spent too long
Waiting on something, on someone,
Some approval of some kind.
Validation,
Love, inherently our own.
We spend too long.
Sometimes decades,
When we’re all settled in our
Swift
Lives.
To slow down and tell someone:
I’m here,
I trust you,
Let’s make up for all this lost time.
When you hadn’t found me,
And I hadn’t
Found
Anything like you.
So what if it’s too late?
To late to
Explore?
It’s never too late to see and
Dream and
Believe.
So what if who you imagined by your side,
Isn’t by you today?

A Pause | Graphite, watercolor, gouache and collage on wasli | 4.3 x 12.9 in

Quiet Fall | Gouache, graphite, watercolour & relief print on wasli | 5 x 5 in

Midday Interval | Gouache, graphite, water
colour, pen & collage on wasli | 4 x 5 in

I N Q U I R E

I am,
The gleaming hazy street lights,
Those cobbled lanes,
They invite you in their
Magic.
And all you have to do is
Forget the world of:
Musts
Shoulds
Could
There is just you,
And this
Moment.
They whispered as a soft gaze
In this still haze,
Allowed them to just be.
No matter the years spent away,
Souls always come back
To where they’re meant to be,
Well,
Come back home.
Welcome back home.

- Shanal Kazi