2009
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The New Adventures of Zal and Rodebeh
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​   The New Adventures of Zal and Rodebeh. Detail. Watercolour, paper, found material. Detail. 60cmx12cm (entire). 

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  Rodebeh's Passport. Watercolour, collage, paperclip, latex. 12cmx15cm. 2009.
 

​Rodebehs' Passport and The New Adventures of Zal and Rodebeh are associated works created for the Shahnama Book of Kings: Contemporary responses: Cambridge Shahnameh Project. This semi-allegorical, and narrative scroll with 'passport' contemplate the tyranny of borders, the Indo-Pakistan border in particular.

In this story mythical lovers of the Shahnameh, Zal and Rodebeh are divided by the Indian and Pakistani rift of Partition. My sense of the life-sapping and impermeable nature of this border came through repeated crossings. I was so lucky and yet so worn down by complex bureaucratic procedures. From authorities on both sides came suspicion and annoyance of my wish to travel and delight in making the processes complicated, expensive, and often scary.
But spending time on each side of the border brought me into contact with many people who were warm, welcoming, and inspiring. Some even remembered older, pre-Partition connections whilst others longed, in ways just like lovers, to cross this illogical rift, heal a past, and reclaim a birthright.