K is for Kitab Tabakh (cookbook), 2024

Counihan Gallery, Victoria

Collection of items from my family home intricately decorated with royal icing.

The accompanying artist book is created using toned cyanotype and screen printing techniques

Link to review by liminal - Vulnerable intimacies

K is for Kitab Tabakh (cookbook) is an artist book exploring the cultural and linguistic layering of my bi-cultural upbringing in Australia. Featuring instructions for making decorative celebration cakes—specifically using piped Royal Icing—the book acts as a site of shared knowledge between my mother and me. Each instruction is presented in both English and Arabic, with Latin letters spelling Arabic text and Arabic script forming English instructions. This interplay of language and form reflects the duality of living between two cultures, turning a traditional cookbook into a visual conversation about identity, memory, and intergenerational exchange.