KABOOTAR’BAAZ is a metaphorical narrative of Kashmir’s
psychological and political quandary, voiced through the imagery of pigeon keeping.

In indigenous culture, pigeons symbolize peace, purity, and spiritual freedom, sacred wings that soar unbound. But in the present landscape, charged with power and systemic surveillance, these birds also embody the condition of Kashmiri lives, suspended between fleeting moments of freedom on a horizon marked by countless checkpoints.

The title itself carries a dual meaning. While Kabootarbaaz refers to the “pigeon keeper,” the word baaz also means “hawk.” This evokes a darker undertow: the everwatchful eye of the state that preys on dissident and divergent bodies. The pigeon, though it may fly, does so under an invisible dome of anxiety, mirroring the individual experience in Kashmir, always monitored, always tightly regulated.

This project explores the domestication of bodies under oppressive powers. The people, like the birds, continue preening rituals of resilience and identity, but always under the looming shadow of higher apparatuses and laws in a space bound with razor wires.

KABOOTAR’BAAZ is not merely about birds or their keepers. It is about people in limbo, who deeply care, remember, and resist, even when the whole sky feels occupied.