The Dissected Souvenir III
Paper Weave, scanned digital print of family photographs taken during and after partition and map collected from digital archives
This series was developed during Piramal Art Residency, 2020
16 x 11.5 inches each
Set of five
My works are mostly inspired by my grandfather’s (who migrated from Srikail, Bangladesh to Odisha, India) stories and poems of partition and my experience of visiting our then home after 72 years. I am simultaneously looking at the text from a very personal archive as well as from digital archive sources like newspapers, internet, books, articles, and government-provided information’s on migration.
I believe personal is political. I cannot isolate my family album from the then socio-political situation my family had to face. Hence I began creating a parallel family album weaved with those political statements and divided borders which changed the living condition of many families like ours. For me weaving is not just a medium, it is a process that involves dissection of an image and weaving of texts through the dissected body which forms a surface where words and images play hide and seek both physically and conceptually. I see this language of weaving as a metaphor to speak for the forgotten and lost narratives.
Maps are used to locate places and identities, I explore maps to locate the history of my family’s shifted identities.
India map before partition weaved with grandfather’s first available portrait was taken when he
visited Kolkata for further studies, 1941.
Migrated city no.1. Bangladesh map weaved with last available family photograph clicked while leaving Srikail (grandfather’s hometown) now
in Bangladesh.
Migrated city no: 4. Map of Puri weaved with the photograph of grandfather’s mother and mother in law taken during the stay in that city.
Migrated city no: 5. Map of Cuttack weaved with family photograph was taken during stay in that city.
Migrated city no : 2. Map of Bengal and UP weaved
with photograph of grandfather and his brother taken during living in Benaras.
Exhibitions :
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Piramal Art Residency Open Day, 2020.
Installation view-
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Freeing the Book: A Group Show, 27 January 2020 - 27 February 2020, Blueprint12, The Manor New Delhi, India
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Find the show here- https://www.blueprint12.com/freeing_the_book.html
Press:
Freeing the Book: A Group Show:
https://indiaartfair.in/programme/freeing-the-book-a-group-show