Zenab Kazmi

Chingu | Dost

Projection work with animated photographs and sound

“This projection work emerged from a performance I created with fellow artist Jean, a Korean Canadian artist, on the Toronto subway in fall 2025. "Who Gets a Seat?" through invitation, responded to the racism Asian communities continue to face in public spaces. Through gesture, food, clothing, and our respective languages, we occupied the train with intimacy rather than confrontation.While we began with a script, the most meaningful moment came when we abandoned it. Speaking Urdu and Korean (languages we did not share), we somehow understood one another. We laughed, held hands, and embraced. It felt as though language itself had grown a body.Using animated photographs, sound, and projection, this work reflects that moment of connection. The title Chingu | Dost brings together the Korean and Urdu words for “friend,” placing two languages beside one another without asking either to translate itself.The projection returns to a moment when language grew a body, and we recognized one another inside it. It asks what becomes possible when language is felt before it is understood.”