Minje Pehle
This project is an exploration into the reproduction and preservation of a cultural object called a Jibi, seemingly without adequate historical documentation and lost within both language and context. It focuses on an artefact comprising of a series of gold buttons on a chain, used as a modular garment closure in North-West India around three generations ago, and worn daily by my maternal great-grandmother.

This story of loss is a reflection of an object tied to a community and location; Indian migrants to South Africa, who lived through forced migration during the India-Pakistan divide and then Apartheid South Africa. They were subjected to erosion of community and tradition as they assimilated into their new homeland, resulting in gaps in cultural history, language, memory and space created over time. The aim is to re-find the Jibi by creating an installation that incorporates both a visualization of my research as well as a recreation of the buttons that explores their historical loss.