‘The Conference of the Birds’ was composed by the mystic-poet Farid Ud-Din Attar in the twelfth century. It is one of the most significant works in medieval Persian literature.
The poem is an allegorical rendering of the Islamic doctrine of Sufism and describes the conference of the birds of the world when they meet to begin the search for their ideal king, the Simurgh bird.
When the birds hear that they must undertake an arduous journey in order to find the Simurgh they express reservations to their leader, the hoopoe bird, who eloquently calms their fears using parables which offer them guidance in the search for spiritual truth.
Areez Katki’s Yes, I’m a Garden, takes its title from a (mis-remembered) line in Attar’s ‘The Conference of the Birds’.
The exhibition includes 30 embroidered khadi-cloth panels featuring abstracted impressions of extinct, endangered, endemic and migratory birds from the north-west coast of India where Katki’s Parsee family has lived (in Mumbai) for generations.
Two large embroidered silk-cotton panels anchor the exhibition:
Thirtybird is a mustard-gold textile embroidered with a constellation of lines suggesting the form of the mythological Simurgh bird, mid-flight.
Yes, I’m a Garden reveals a pleasure-driven figure reclining at the centre of a cosmological field. It evokes the Persian and Mughal quadrilateral garden layout known as Charbargh – a spatial and philosophical principle based upon the four gardens of Paradise divided by four water channels.
A suite of 10 miniature watercolours reminiscent of Mughal Court paintings complete Katki’s presentation. These jewel-like works were created for ‘There Is No Other Home But This’ at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, an exhibition curated in 2022 by Zara Stanhope.
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden
2022
installation view
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden
2022
cotton embroidery on hand-woven silkcotton
950mm H x 1650mm W
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden (detail)
2022
cotton embroidery on hand-woven silkcotton
950mm H x 1650mm W
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden (detail)
2022
cotton embroidery on hand-woven silk cotton
950mm H x 1650mm W
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden
2022
installation view
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden
2022
installation view
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden
2022
installation view
Areez Katki
Simurgh (scarlet minivet)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
330mm H x 340mm W
Areez Katki
Simurgh (spotted owl)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
345mm H x 345mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Simurgh (Orphean warbler)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
345mm H x 340mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Simurgh (homa)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
340mm H x 345mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Simurgh (golden oriole)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
340mm H x 350mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden
2022
installation view
Areez Katki
Simurgh (rose-ringed parakeet)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
340mm H x 340mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Simurgh (peafowl)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
335mm H x 350mm W
Areez Katki
Simurgh (rose finch)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
345mm H x 345mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Simurgh (paradise flycatcher)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
335mm H x 340mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Simurgh (house crow)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
335mm H x 330mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Simurgh (hoopoe)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
330mm H x 340mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden
2022
installation view
Areez Katki
Simurgh (mallard duck)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
335mm H x 350mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Simurgh (bank mynah)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
335mm H x 340mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Simurgh (partridge)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
340mm H x 345mm W
Areez Katki
Simurgh (button quail)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
335mm H x 345mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Simurgh (wood pigeon)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
340mm H x 345mm W
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden
2022
installation view
Areez Katki
Simurgh (black redstart)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
340mm H x 350mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Simurgh (heron)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
350mm H x 345mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden
2022
installation view
Areez Katki
Simurgh (cinereous vulture)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
330mm H x 335mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Simurgh (Himalayan monal)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
335mm H x 335mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Simurgh (Indian cuckoo)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
335mm H x 335mm W
Areez Katki
Simurgh (nightingale)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
320mm H x 335mm W
Areez Katki
Simurgh (peregrine falcon)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
340mm H x 345mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Simurgh (emerald dove)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
330mm H x 340mm W
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden
2022
installation view
Areez Katki
Simurgh (Asian pied starling)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
340mm H x 335mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Simurgh (Indian robin)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
335mm H x 340mm W
Areez Katki
Simurgh (Brahminy kite)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
335mm H x 340mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Simurgh (red-vented bulbul)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
330mm H x 340mm W
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden
2022
installation view
Areez Katki
Simurgh (baya weaver)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
340mm H x 340mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Simurgh (kingfisher)
2022
cotton embroidery on raw khadi
325mm H x 340mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden
2022
installation view
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden
2022
installation view
Areez Katki
Pasargadae
2021
natural pigments (saffron, sumac) and watercolour on cotton paper
180mm H x 125mm W (unframed)
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Freeze!
2021
natural pigments (saffron, sumac) and watercolour on cotton paper
180mm H x 125mm W (unframed)
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Freeze! (detail)
2021
natural pigments (saffron, sumac) and watercolour on cotton paper
180mm H x 125mm W (unframed)
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden
2022
installation view
Areez Katki
Extract
2021
natural pigments (saffron, sumac) and watercolour on cotton paper
180mm H x 125mm W (unframed)
Areez Katki
Polychroma
2021
natural pigments (saffron, sumac) and watercolour on cotton paper
180mm H x 125mm W (unframed)
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden
2022
installation view
Areez Katki
Elam
2021
natural pigments (saffron, sumac) and watercolour on cotton paper
180mm H x 125mm W (unframed)
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Areez Katki
But not to a man with blue eyes
2021
natural pigments (saffron, sumac) and watercolour on cotton paper
180mm H x 125mm W (unframed)
Areez Katki
Haft Sein
2021
natural pigments (saffron, sumac) and watercolour on cotton paper
180mm H x 125mm W (unframed)
Areez Katki
Ashem Vohu
2021
Natural pigments (saffron, sumac) and watercolour on cotton paper
180mm H x 125mm W (unframed)
Areez Katki
Between the kneecaps
2021
natural pigments (saffron, sumac) and watercolour on cotton paper
180mm H x 125mm W (unframed)
Areez Katki
Dēgarbash
2021
natural pigments (saffron, sumac) and watercolour on cotton paper
180mm H x 125mm W (unframed)
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden
2022
installation view
Areez Katki
Thirtybird
2022
cotton embroidery on hand-woven silk-cotton
1050mm H x 1050mm W
Areez Katki
Thirtybird (detail)
2022
cotton embroidery on hand-woven silk-cotton
1050mm H x 1050mm W
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden
2022
installation view
Areez Katki
Yes, I’m a Garden
2022
installation view