Letters to my Mother

October 7, 2024 - December 2, 2024

Al-Qawi Nanavati's art practice blends papermaking, printmaking, painting, and textiles. Influenced by meditation, prayer, repetition, and the aftermath of loss, she writes letters to her late mother to feel close and continue their conversations. The sudden loss of her mother halted Nanavati's practice and life. Creating art felt like making memories without her. Months later, she began to process her grief by talking to her mother through her artwork. Writing letters to her in secret scripts and repurposing her mother's clothing, embedding her memories within the work, helped Nanavati make sense of the void. Gradually, her work addressed the irreversible change within oneself after such a loss. Through her practice, Nanavati strives for acceptance of this new self and aims to prolong the intimacy she shared with her mother while healing from grief.

Al-Qawi Nanavati is an artist from Mumbai, India. She earned her BFA from the School of Art Institute of Chicago and a Postgraduate Certification in Indian Aesthetics from Jnanapravaha, Mumbai. Nanavati co-founded Young Art Support, an online platform that promotes, exhibits, and sells young artists' work commission-free. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Printmaking at the University of Iowa.

Al-Qawi Nanavati, Unending Conversations 12, self-made paper using Kozo, pulp of her Mother's clothes, pulp painting and screenprinting, 2023