Khirki - 3 by Riya Chandwani

This work, like the previous one, explores the windows of abandoned Sindhi homes as metaphors for memory, absence, and the possibility of return. These architectural openings, delicately detailed stand as quiet witnesses to the lives once lived behind them, and the silence that followed Partition. To carry this longing further, the work incorporates verses by Shaikh Ayaz: 

“Ho Jadahein Warandiyon Koonjhriyon, Ho Ho Ho Allah, Allah... Ho Jadahein Warandiyon Koonjhriyon, Har Har Kary, Hul Alomiya, Tadahein Milandaseen, Ho Ho Tadahein Milandaseen.”

These lines evoke images of the verandahs echoing with gentle footsteps and the repeated calls of memory. They speak to a divine witnessing of time’s passing and to a reunion that still flickers on the horizon. The windows here become not only openings but thresholds between longing and light, loss and the dream of return. 

This artwork was exhibited at Method in the group exhibition "The Parliament is Now in Session" (August 2025)