Atlas of My World (Six Works)

This portfolio of six woodcuts comprises maps representing countries and states that Zarina has worked in or visited. Within each area, the specific place-names known to her are identified by Urdu inscriptions. In the depiction of the Indian subcontinent, the jagged boundary betewen India and Pakistan extends beyond the frame. Based on a drawing by the British colonial officer Sir Cyril Radcliffe, the line conveys the sense of rupture that defined the birth of the two nations in 1947 and the profound dislocations that followed for families on both sides, including that of the artist. Other maps portray the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan, and the Arabian Gulf. The last includes mamlakat saudia (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), turkiya (Turkey), 'iraq (Iraq), and sham (Syria), whose current political misfortunes form an ongoing subtext in Zarina's imagery.