Interview with
Salima Punjani
Salima’s encounter for this project was a lovely surprise. While doing an artist residency in Rimouski, she hosted a death cafe where participants would also play with sounds and vibrations to express themselves about the topics of grief and loss. Her experience and curiosity around death made us curious to invite her to participate in this project. She was feeling a bit young to talk about eldership but we are grateful she accepted even so as her insights definitely hold wisdom.
About our guest
Salima Punjani
Salima Punjani (she/her) is a Tiohtià:ke based multi-sensory artist grounded in relational aesthetics. A common thread through all of her work is the creation of environments that allow for receptivity of connection. She is particularly interested in how multiple senses can be used to expand the possibilities for people to feel welcome in art spaces as well as to create artful experiences of empathy, intimacy, and connection.
Her recent work explores themes such as isolation and resocialization processes related to the ongoing pandemic, rest as resistance to systemic injustice and how medical data can be subverted into finding human connection rather than pathologies. She is a self-trained artist, holding a BA in Mass Communication and Political Science from Carleton University, Graduate Diploma in Journalism from Concordia University and Master’s in Social Work from McGill University.
1. What keeps you up at night? What are your thoughts about aging in these unprecedented times?
Salima begins reflecting on the socio-environmental context and how it affects us all. The conversation then goes to how she envisions aging, even from a younger age. Having lived through episodes of illness has quickly shifted her way to look at the future and legacy. This first part ends with Salima reflecting about the state intergenerational relationships and what she sees for younger generations.
“And also the idea of a distant future to me just feels more and more impossible… to predict… in a lot of ways. […] just seeing the rapidly deteriorating state of our social care, I don’t know how much we're ever gonna be able to predict anymore whether it’s environmental, social, interpersonal, anything…”
— Salima Punjani
2. What should care look like for someone at later stages in their life?
Salima refers to the realities of people living with disabilities. Being perceived as unproductive beings of society has an impact on how care is offered, or is actually not. She expands by talking about various ways systemic inequalities can be very apparent through the lense of care. Salima continues telling how growing as Ismaili Muslim influenced how she values care and being in service to others. She invites you to also be aware of the burden of care and who traditionally carries it. How could providers of care have experiences of generosity too?
References
3. 2. What are some beliefs and experiences associated with dying and death?
The conversation continues with Salima telling about her trajectory as a counselor that led her to reflect about rituals related to death. How to imagine secular collective practices that help us connect to each other? You can then hear her talk about her experiments around that and the Sonic Death Cafe session she hosted in Rimouski where sounds and vibrations invited people to reflect in deeper ways. It ends with Salima sharing some reflections about the space for rituals in our lives.
“When someone is gone, they’re gone. You never know what kind of wisdom each person holds and how nourishing it could be to spend that time with someone instead of being scared of actually being present with someone who’s about to leave.”
— Salima Punjani
“Talking about death is to support people in living. […] How can we listen to each other? How can listening take other forms than words? What are some symbolic gestures that can make holding space for death, grief, loss, feel possible in a little way?”
— Salima Punjani