Daphne (after Gieve Patel), 2021, features a series of embroidered markings around a central drawing from one of the first artworks that Katki encountered by late-artist Gieve Patel: Daphne was originally a cast bronze sculpture from Patel’s series of feminine deities from 2006. Here, the form of a mythic female fleeing from abduction is embroidered across a striped dhurrie rug—one of four such rugs that Katki exhumed from homes that his family lived in as they migrated across SWANA, India and Aotearoa New Zealand.

Each of these four rugs by Katki has been embroidered with myths concerning queer and female histories cited from ancient material cultures, to now make their way into the fibres of household myths.

Daphne (after Gieve Patel) features the word ‘دفتَر’ (daftar) embroidered in thin red chain stitch under the central figure, indicating how storytelling is a central thesis in their practice. The repeated use of this word, here embroidered by Katki, indicates an ongoing engagement with the act of telling and retelling stories: Daftar, translated from Persian, denotes a register, notebook or the manuscript of a story.