for saul

For Saul is the next entry in my series on mixed-race identity. I created this work to connect more deeply to my Tamil and Québécois ancestors and to honour the birth of my nephew Saul.

This work is composed of a variety of materials, including upcycled fabrics, and multiple hand textile techniques: punch needle, rug hooking, batik, sewing, and appliqué. For Saul took many months to complete, given its scale and all the handwork involved. Consequently, this process allowed me the time to reflect on my ancestors, and this led me to feel a greater sense of connection to them as well as to my interracial lineage and my place within it. For Saul also speaks to second-generation multiraciality as reflected in my half Jewish, quarter Québécois, quarter Tamil nephew Saul.

Through this work––and my series more broadly––I critically engage with traditions of mixed-race autobiographical storytelling. Monoracial societies have long dominated discussions on how mixed-race individuals should identify, pressuring us to choose one racial group over the other and labeling us according to perception. Through telling our own stories, mixed-race individuals reclaim their narratives and share the complexity of this lived experience.

The creation of this work was funded through the support of an Arts Nova Scotia grant.