FROM COLONIAL RESIDUES TO DECOLONIAL FUTURES
THE STUDENT COLLECTIVE // RESEARCH & ESSAY
It’s time. Since first engaging with art and culture in 2023, I’ve pursued one goal: dismantling imperial and classist barriers in the Global South’s systems of knowledge. Writing From Colonial Residues to Decolonial Futures was when I first understood what it means to design—and think—decolonially.
Building on my Srinagar–Sharjah Biennale proposal, the essay explores how decolonization must begin from within—through education, biennials, art fairs, museums, archives, and knowledge production. Education and the biennial, I argue, hold the most power to reclaim our cultural sovereignty and reshape the region’s visual and literary language.
Published in Thresholds (2025), the inaugural issue of @thestudentcollective.aus at @caadaus , this essay marks the foundation of my ongoing decolonial design and curatorial practice.
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Publisher: @thestudentcollective.aus
Editorial Leads: @the_pan_arab • @alhussainnjood
Publication Design: @electra_street • @zainhajissa
Editorial Coordination: @naes_design_
Editorial Assistant: @nour.tabbakh
Editorial Advisor: @kevin_mitchell_aus
Special thanks to @smartglossy_ for helping me find my decolonial voice through curatorial research, and to @curabbabrad for nurturing this essay from its earliest drafts.
TEXTURES OF CONFLICT ZONES:
Kashmir's Line of Control
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Oh cradle of the sky and pine,
Where springs of honey flow and shine,
Where peaks wear veils of snow so deep,
And dreams lie folded, half-asleep.
Textures and sights, I confess,
Heaven on earth, no less.
Yet darkened, with shadows,
Of violence, tears, and sorrows,
May peace return, not fade or flee,
Not paradise lost, but paradise free.
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Opening slide: Ayubia, Kyber Pakhtunkhwa
Other slides: Militarized zones near Line of Control, Azad Kashmir
All pictures posted with full permission from PAF and the Ministry of Defence.
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Inspired by the Srinagar Biennale Manifesto and my own Srinagar-Sharjah Biennale: Paradise Lost.
