Sutra – 'thread' in Sanskrit – is also a term used to refer to aphoristic texts in Eastern philosophical traditions.

Following the threads of migration and genetic memory, this project reflects on the erasure of South African Indian cultural systems and intergenerational knowledge due to colonialism. English is the lingua franca amongst the South African Indian community, where virtually no one fluently speaks a language indigenous to India.

The instruments developed in my series are a personal attempt to develop a kind of technology which might aid in a process of accessing ancestral sonic imagination – outside of a Western context or framework.

Each instrument is hand-crafted over a period of one to two years using a range of self-developed techniques employing diverse technologies from the body itself to computer-aided design and fabrication.

Each design is developed through a process of 'wayfinding'. The process of creating an instrument is one of navigating Space-Time as opposed to 'making'. In this way, the sound of the instrument first appears to me as a waking dream. The physical manifestation of an instrument involves explorations of the Western Cape during the crafting process that lead to the found materials integrated into the design.
– Kamil Hassim