Keerat Kaur: Panjabi Garden

Rungh is pleased to be a Media Partner for this Surrey Art Gallery exhibition.

The word “Panjab” was colonized as “Punjab” at the time of the British Raj. "Panj" is the Farsi word for "five," and "ab" is the Farsi word for "water." This terminology references the five main rivers—Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Satluj—that flow through the two Panjab regions. When Panjab was divided in 1947 into Pakistan and India, two rivers Beas and Satluj flowed through East Panjab (India) and Jhelum, Chenab, and Ravi became part of West Panjab (Pakistan). "Panjabi" decolonizes the word itself.

The works within Panjabi Garden are inspired by themes, imagery, and text that blossom within Kaur's recent Panjabi language-learning book of the same name. This exhibition is a collection of multimedia works—poetry, digital illustration, traditional painting, and marble inlay—that facilitates a journey through the lushness of language and script. Panjabi is a language filled with endless treasures, and so many of these gems are yet to be unlocked by generations to come. There are endless books to be read and written, endless songs to be listened to and composed, and endless poems to be shared and received. Panjabi Garden hopes to inspire a connection and re-connection with the wealth of this language.

Kaur will be giving an artist talk and performance on January 27 and a Panjabi tour of her exhibition on February 11.

Curator: Suvi Bains

Origin of Exhibition: Surrey Art Gallery