“This is my ഓർമ പെട്ടി. (Orma Petti translates as ‘memory box’ in Malayalam).
This ഓർമ പെട്ടി offers a tiny window into who I am.
The pandemic of 2020 and the lockdown that followed threw me, with a million others, into uncharted territories. However the feeling of isolation was particularly heightened since I have been living by myself. The absence of touch was striking.
It was then that I discovered my old ഓർമ പെട്ടി and started rummaging through the memory boxes and its contents. They contained multiple objects that I have been collecting from a young age and the tactile feel of an object took me back to many fond, and not-so-fond memories.
I began stitching each of these objects with a single strand of my own hair because, for me, hair and the act of sewing is a metaphor for memory.”