Borrowed Time: Urdu, Memory, and the Lives We Build
Saturday, May 16, 2026
7:00- 9:30 pm

Early bird tickets are available until April 30, 2026

An immersive experience blending Urdu literature and South Asian art, designed to reframe familiar narratives through an Eastern perspective. Centered on literature exploring the concept of Borrowed Time, we explore the ‘kal’ of yesterday and the ‘kal’ of tomorrow. The program explores how time shapes memory, identity, and the lives we build. The evening features a live poetry performance, with moments that break down and reflect on each piece, along with a hands-on activity that invites guests to engage more personally with the language. It welcomes both Urdu speakers and curious newcomers, leaving attendees with new ways of seeing through performance and the gallery space.

Wajiha Ibrahim is the co-founder of Words in Urdu, an interdisciplinary platform dedicated to preserving Urdu language, literature, and cultural thought for diaspora and non-native audiences. Based in Los Angeles, her work moves across language, architecture, and photography to reconnect communities with their intellectual and cultural inheritances. She challenges the idea that knowledge flows only from West to East, instead exploring what diasporic life can relearn from South Asian traditions of storytelling, community, and resistance. Her interdisciplinary practice asks how language, image, and space can help communities reclaim ways of seeing and imagining themselves beyond colonial frameworks.