Oral History (of Us) / 2025

Audio installation, 4 minutes, 2025

My mother speaks to me in Punjabi, but I respond back to her in Urdu. I speak to my daughter in Urdu, but she responds back in English. My mother and my daughter do not communicate in any verbal language – just smiles, hugs and food. Over the course of just one generation, Punjabi is a lost language in my family. My sibling and I did not make an effort to learn the language. We chose to speak Urdu (Pakistan's national language) over Punjabi (a regional language) because it helped us assimilate easier as immigrants living in the U.A.E.

Now as immigrants in the U.S., Urdu, too, might be a lost language in my family. Despite my best effort to get my daughter to take an interest in it, Urdu, along with the culture I grew up with, might not be a part of my daughter’s life. Oral History (of Us) / 2025 invites the audience to listen to a phone call addressed to my daughter, covering a few centuries of our history. 

Photos by Deanna Dent and Samantha Chow.