Gurmukhi Journey

Gurmukhi is the Punjabi script. It consists of 35 letters, divided into 7 lines of 5 letters. In 2021 I reconnected with this script. Here is my journey over the years with the script.

As a child I was able to read and write Gurmukhi ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ, but when I started secondary school, unfortunately I did not maintain my connection with the written language. Through online events on Instagram I reconnected with the language and started exploring the script.

A blue elephant with hathi in punjabi script

hathi (elephant) in Gurmukhi

For my script in 2021, I created individual letters on tracing paper which I hand drew and coloured in using pencils:

Practicing writing the word soondar (beautiful)

In 2022, I cut out the 35 letters and other components of the script from watercolour postcards I painted. Here is a video of me spelling ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ Gurmukhi using those cut outs and components:

In 2023, I created each letter inside a circle and cut out each one. I painted the background using watercolour and used pens to depict each letter. Here are some photos of my Gurmukhi script in 2023:

Circle sheets of Gurmukhi script in Pam's hand