Divinely Quotidian: Interview with Areez Katki

In their embroidery, writing, paintings, and prints, the Auckland-based Parsi artist Areez Katki pries open histories of migration, colonialism, queer sexuality, and feminine crafts while relaying their unique experiences as a queer artist hailing from a community that has witnessed numerous cycles of persecution, uprooting, and assimilation. Through reclamations of matrilineal crafting techniques, or the affirmative intertwining of spirituality and sexuality, and a conscious divergence from Western heteropatriarchal constructs, their works articulate soft resistances to sociocultural prescriptions and canons at various levels. In 2018, Katki embarked on a grand transnational quest for belonging that has since been translated into a compelling body of work currently on display in Mumbai, the city that his immediate ancestors called home. We spoke about their preparations for the show—their first solo presentation in India—as well as their explorations around “migratory, queer identity.”

• New Zealand
• India