Totewali is a collaborative project with my sister, Insiyah Mohammad Bergeron. We find Urdu to be a hilariously visual language, and this series pays homage to urdu idioms, muhavare. Insiyah draws the text and I make literal drawings depicting the phrases, which I then screen print onto tote bags.
Growing up in Pakistan, we either heard muhavare seamlessly incorporated into everyday speech, or saw them in textbooks that encouraged us to use the most elaborate, eccentric ones to score more points on tests and exams. It has taken us many years of being away from home and our native language to truly appreciate the drama, comedy and complex visuals associated with these morsels of language.
Totewali is our attempt to re-engage with our language and these phrases in a way that makes us laugh, helps us connect with others from our homeland, and feels #real.
“Aankhain Dikhana” Tote
“Ek Anaar Sau Beemar” Tote
“Khayaali Pulao Pakana” Tote
“Daant Khattey Karna” Tote
“Taang Arana”
The posters below were created for In Response to We Fight to Build a Free World: An Exhibition by Jonathan Horowitz at the Jewish Museum. The idiom, “Taang Arana,” depicted in this project literally translates to “getting leg tangled,” and it means to interfere in another’s business.
