Security Blanket

This piece explores the process of preserving ancestral mark-making through the use of digital rendering software. The militarization of Jammu and Kashmir presents itself not only in the infiltration of military materials in pedestrian areas but also in its impact on traditional Kashmiri crafts. Imposed military lockdowns have decimated the handicraft trade, which used to be the backbone of Kashmir's economy. To preserve the crochet crafts of my matrilineage, I outlined the marks of granny squares made by my great-grandmother. The blanket made from the squares is a standard twin size, such as one an Indian military cot would be covered with. It is inlaid with barbed wire spikes, used for confinement, protection, and boundary marking.