Dear Nani by Zinnia Naqvi

Dear Nani (2017 – ongoing) is a photobook by Zinna Naqvi addressing issues of gender performance and colonial mimicry through the family archive. The photographs are of the artist’s maternal grandmother, Rhubab Tapal. Nani is performing the act of cross-dressing by wearing several different outfits that belong to her husband. The photographs were taken on her honeymoon after the couple was newly married in Quetta and Karachi Pakistan, in 1948. The artist’s grandfather or Nana, Gulam Abbas Tapal, is the photographer and presumed director of the photo session.