#mounaks

Hi Mounaks! Here’s a few questions for you, it won’t take too long & i’m thrilled to interview you.

1- First of all, how about you introduce yourself?

Hi Mohini, I am a half Palestinian, half Indian (student) poet, writer and artist, currently living in London. I am 22 and a Muslim.

My work is very personal to me, even when it appears to be abstract or conceptual. I treat the act of ‘making’ as something sacred. Everything I make is done by hand, and don’t really work digitally at all.

For me, ‘making’ is a really cathartic process, and something that ideally happens in four stages: introspection, articulation, documentation and then growth. Essentially, I want to learn something new, either about myself, or the world around me, in each thing I create. That definitely doesn’t happen every time, but when it does, it feels amazing.

I use art to express my thoughts or feelings, so a lot of the content comes straight from my heart. I have always been very private and shy about my work, often feeling that if I display it – I will somehow be exposing myself and someone will be seeing my gory open wounds. My work hinges on recurrent themes, some of which include searching, reconciliation, healing, forgiveness, God and grief. Even when I don’t want them to, all my works seem to contain a trace of melancholy or nostalgia. I am really not that bad in real life! In fact, if you met me, you probably wouldn’t believe that it was me who made all that stuff!

from the serie “ Sabr and Shukr in bloom.”

2- How would you define each of these 3 words in a sense that is very specific to you: Home.       Safety.       Travelling. 

Home – my mum. She’s my greatest love and greatest worry.

Safety – solitude. I love being by myself. I feel very uncomfortable in large social situations, even though I can conduct myself normally, on the inside I am squirming. To be honest, I think that’s probably why my writing and art reads the way it does. At first glance its beautiful, but the tension and struggle is very much beneath the surface.

Travelling – I love people watching. Every journey is an opportunity to observe the bizarre intricacies of human behaviour. There’s so much beautiful stuff around. I love seeing old people holding hands.

from the serie “Poetics of patterns”. 1 2

3- Your favourite non-english word & what it means to you? 

This is a funny one, I’m not sure if it’s a real word but ‘eckle swiri dedri’ – which my sister use to call me when I was little. It basically means like ‘small lonely weird one’ – which is still pretty accurate.

4- A song you want to share with us?

Tip the Scale – The Roots. Particularly the Dice Raw verse, that image of digging tunnels is something I think about a lot.

from the “The Map of Sorries.”

5- Last question, a message you want to share with us.

‘If disappointments darken all your days, You need not grieve, for nothing worldly stays.’ – Farid Attar Words to live by.

“ As you can see, i really like to integrate text into a lot in my work, whether it's my own writing, the writing of other authors, or sometimes Qur'anic text. “

She is currently working on a project called “Safe Landing Project” - click to find out more.

All her work can be found here: 

Tagged/mks

To contact her: 

[email protected]