The transition from Unit 2 to Unit 3 has seen me shift my practice more towards language, as an extension of the work I was doing related to my own cultural heritage. In this unit, I’m interested in exploring my mother tongue, Urdu, and specifically my strange proficiency in it. For context, I didn’t learn Urdu in a formalised manner as a child, but rather just orally/colloquially. As a result, I can understand it very well, but don’t speak or write very fluently.
I’ve always wanted for that to change, so in imagining what the experience of learning Urdu could have been, the question I find myself asking is:
How can the production of artefacts be a means of (re)learning a native language?
Artefacts are central to the learning of a language, or rather, are produced as a result of the process. Think worksheets, flashcards, stencils etc. There’s definitely a visual language surrounding the learning process. Within Urdu, the qaida is a typical format — a small book that introduces children to the letters of the alphabet, how letters join and the sounds they make. Usually these are called Urdu ki pehli kitaab or My First Urdu Book. What might a similar process look like for my own re-learning?
I’ve decided to focus specifically on improving my writing skills, (khuskhati in Urdu) giving actual shape/form to the language that is audibly very familiar. To do so, I’m following a specific tutorial series on YouTube by the OPAL Institutue of Calligraphy based on a specific calligraphic marker. While the style is technically still handwriting, there is a formalised quality to it that is dependent on the marker as a tool.
To begin, I’ve been practicing mark making exercises to familiarise myself with the core forms that will eventually make up the letters. I realise that before writing, it seems that I first have to engage in the act of drawing.
