Video & Media art
I Lost/Ai Found explores the artist’s relationship with the Tamil language, which is her father’s native language, and a language she never learnt. The video includes imagery of Tamil alphabet motor skills worksheets for children, completed by the artist. The one Tamil letter included appears in orange, and makes an 'ai' sound. The audio component repeats various voices reciting tabla bols. A bol, meaning “word” in Hindi, is a mnemonic syllable that corresponds to a sound produced when playing the tabla drum, which is commonly heard in classical Hindustani music.
Both image and audio focus on the poetic qualities of language, in the form of rhythm, line, shape, intonation, and weight, as opposed to the literal meaning of language. Focusing on imagery and acts often associated with childhood, this video draws on a sensory experience of language, and contemplates the space where language becomes meaningful. This video exemplifies a longing for a language that has been ‘lost’ among the artist’s immediate family, while considering the significance of language itself in shaping identity.