The Turban Imaginary
Author: Singh, Rajinder
ISBN: 9789670147338
RM50.00
Publisher,Rajinder Singh
Publication Date,
Format, Paperback
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No. of Pages,
Rajinder Singh’s “The Turban Imaginary,” published in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, profoundly explores the turban, transforming it into a vibrant subject of art, ritual, and cultural performance. The book itself is crafted to be experienced like the intricate tying of a turban, with each chapter mirroring the “quiet prayers” and “incantations” of this ancient ritual.
From an arts perspective, Singh views turban-tying as an “embodied choreography” and a “living installation” that merges personal identity with public cultural display. He envisions its potential to inspire “soft ritual-centered fabric-based choreographies” and “sculptures” that are inhabitable spaces for the body. The work highlights the turban as a “medium for action” and “a site of choreography,” where each fold embodies cultural resilience and serves as an “aesthetic and political act.” Described as a “creative play” filled with expressive folds that are both devotional and delightful, “The Turban Imaginary” ultimately presents the turbaned body as “social choreography,” a powerful, wordless expression of identity, protest, and ritual.
Book Praise:
Never have I read a book where I have so yearned to put my hands into it - into each page so I could let the words flow through my fingers, entwine, bind and set free. The turban in Rajinder Singh's ode is mesmerising for its place in history, culture, in society, in the self-awareness of the wearer, in its mathematical contours. It splashes colour on history, geography, spirituality, love and identity. It is, too, a natural extension of the author's work as an artist and his explorations of colonisation. In this he presents to the reader the turban as a 'symbol of fire and defiance' and 'survival and liberation'.
-Victoria McDonald, Health Editor, Channel 4 News (UK)
From an arts perspective, Singh views turban-tying as an “embodied choreography” and a “living installation” that merges personal identity with public cultural display. He envisions its potential to inspire “soft ritual-centered fabric-based choreographies” and “sculptures” that are inhabitable spaces for the body. The work highlights the turban as a “medium for action” and “a site of choreography,” where each fold embodies cultural resilience and serves as an “aesthetic and political act.” Described as a “creative play” filled with expressive folds that are both devotional and delightful, “The Turban Imaginary” ultimately presents the turbaned body as “social choreography,” a powerful, wordless expression of identity, protest, and ritual.
Book Praise:
Never have I read a book where I have so yearned to put my hands into it - into each page so I could let the words flow through my fingers, entwine, bind and set free. The turban in Rajinder Singh's ode is mesmerising for its place in history, culture, in society, in the self-awareness of the wearer, in its mathematical contours. It splashes colour on history, geography, spirituality, love and identity. It is, too, a natural extension of the author's work as an artist and his explorations of colonisation. In this he presents to the reader the turban as a 'symbol of fire and defiance' and 'survival and liberation'.
-Victoria McDonald, Health Editor, Channel 4 News (UK)
