artist statement

I identify as a maker, mover, and muse. I swim in constellations of memory, migration, and metamorphosis. I dance, film, photograph, conjure with my hands, and write. I am a multidisciplinary movement artist of south asian and north indian descent, currently based in the Arapahoe, Cheyanne, and Ute territories located in Boulder, Colorado.

Born and raised amidst the almond trees, juicy peaches, and wildflowers of Central California, my Punjabi roots keep me entangled in color, ritual, tradition, and a warrior spirit. I crave a tender touch and truth telling in couplets. I feel, think, and move in multiple languages at once. I make space to spiral forward, play, pause, and rewind time. I activate ancestral memory through the fragrance of chai spices and use my body as the mortar and pestle.

Various experiences motivate me. The sudden death of my father. The long and silent mourning of his passing. My mother’s inability and resistance to play. The three palo verde trees I planted. Letting soil teach me. Living with the seasons. Hurdling through the land of America as a first-generation eldest daughter, I make friends everywhere I go, believing that our shared moments are fated and we are here to honor our shared destiny.

I celebrate freedom that my ancestors never had. I mourn my lost childhood. I fight the colonial powers and patriarchal standards that attempt to consume my assignment in this lifetime by embracing my feminist, queer, wildly sweet and spicy taste for life. I create radical fantasies. My dearest teachers consist of the orange trees my family planted, the ritual of making masala chai taught to me by my mother, and the gentle patience it takes to delicately dry a dupatta with my grandmother. I believe paths that cross, cross again.

My brown vessel is always yearning for home. Through that desire, my wish is to cultivate a sense of belonging in all spaces I occupy, and with all bodies I share space and time with. My dancing brings samosas with chutney, and sweet gulaab jamun. I leave an essence of cardamom and roses everywhere I go. My superpower is reviving. Reviving lost relationships, lost stories, lost dreams, lost spaces and lost hopes. Reimagining new systems and creating new worlds with our shared communities.

I am the bridge of my ancestors from one land to another. I create networks of support through my touch and voice. I am the shooting star amidst a dark night sky. I shift between safety and danger as I need to. I wear my brown skin with pride as it glistens of gold and honey in the sun. I move my body and listen to spirit in multiple capacities and languages. I transcend time. My name means God’s music. My gift to this world is my rhythm, my rage, my rain, and my ravenous appetite for community, play, and revolution.