Dohas for Doha
Shown at: ‘Still More World’, Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art | Doha (2019)
Five Videos, LED screens
variable dimensions
Dohas woven by Kabir,
Rahim sees them in the Stars
Raqs finds them everywhere,
in Doha and in Mars
This doha talks in shadow speech
Where words fail Raqs, let commas reach
When nothing else will do, then Raqs
Try a line or two of madness,
which is but sanity, redux
In the forenoon read a doha, and then proceed
Raqs, for time to flower,
each moment’s desiring is the seed
Raqs waits for times to ripen
Today’s loads, let tomorrow lighten.
The video works Dohas for Doha are illuminated proverbs that play with linguistics, light, and the transmission of knowledge. A doha is a poetic form that consists of four lines, a poetic technique popularized by the medieval Hindi poet and mystic Kabir. Changes to the sequences of words in these phrases creates multiple meanings and linguistic puns that refer to the city of Doha and Raqs in encoded, poetic messages, providing another layer to the word ‘doha’, which in Hindi means ‘double’.
