Art Metropole

#12859

Name, Class, Subject

Artist

Aisha Khalid

Date

2016

Publisher

Raking Leaves

Format

Artists' Books

Size

19 × 25 × 2.2 cm

Length

240 pp

Description

Name, Class, Subject by Aisha Khalid is inspired by the exercise or ‘copy’ books used by government schools in Pakistan to teach writing in Urdu and English. Khalid’s book project recalls her experience as a child growing up in Pakistan under the imposed hierarchy of a society shaped by a bilingual culture. The book project can be experienced starting from either the front or back cover, blending the formats of two exercise books into a single book project. The book is produced from over three hundred original two-sided paintings of ruled pages painted in the traditional Mughal style of miniature painting, making each printed page unique. ‘Errors’ in the printing and discrepancies in the lined sheets highlight distinctions between the Urdu section and the uniform English-ruled pages. Void of images the lined pages of the book speak of an unwritten narrative. The book is also meant to be written in.

2009.

240pp (250 × 190mm); 240 colour plates
Offset lithography on Lux Cream 80gsm
Hardcover Lux Cream 80gsm over 2mm board
Brillianta cloth 40210 mounted on 230gsm card

Design by Valle Walkley

Pre-press by Spitting Image, Sydney

Printed by KHL, Singapore

1.