Growing Old In A Foreign Place...

User:

Since I've changed my user from the last time. I will mention a few things about her. Naseeb Kaur, 82 years old has been living in Bergen for the last 40 years. She can speak Norwegian just as much as I can, which is very basic. Yet she manages to grow old and continues a fulfilling life in this foreign place that she now calls home. Although, I question her connection to this place. She and her family have created a place within a place for her. She lives with her youngest son and daughter-in-law and her two really cute grandchildren. She also has another place that she calls home and that is in Punjab, India.

Her life story is like sitting through a history lesson. It is full of displacement and many sad chapters. Her father fought in WWII; she has lived through the partition of India and Pakistan; and later when she was living with her husband and family in Uganda, they were forced to leave the country. Eventually they all settled in Bergen, where they have been living until now.

She and I share a love for embroidery. It is the one passion that has stayed consistent throughout her life. Although now, as she grows old, her hands and eyes are no longer as able to assist her as they once did. She lights up when she talks about the things she's embroidered.

Material and Element:

I'm investigating two different materials that perhaps could interlace.

Cotton:

Naseeb Kaur likes how the cotton feels in her hands, she adds "that cotton clothes are the best to wear, you can try wearing lots of other materials but they are all useless, that is why cotton is the best." I've continued experimenting with cotton as a form by pouring wax on it, in it, by creating soft and hard textures, soft and hard sounds.

Assembling techniques:

Naseeb Kaur shows keen interest in my embroidery techniques that I used to join two pieces together. She tells me that they are correct techniques after which, she brings out her embroidered work to show me. I would like to extend this idea of assembling by creating an exchange between her and the native culture of Bergen.