Mixed media work ranges from latex casting of historical objects such as monuments and weapons to poetic recreations of places where atrocities and deaths took place. Chawdhury calls his work “Anti-Memorial”. This embodies their memories rather than simplifying world events and the lives of those most affected. They are meant to bring attention to those marginalized by history, such as the unreported casualties of the massacre and sexually assaulted women who have lived in silence.
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the partition of India, seven installations are currently on display at the South Asian Institute in Chicago.
Chowdhry’s installation Memory Leaks tallies some of the deaths from violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims since the partition. credit: Courtesy: Pritika Chowdhry/South Asia Institute
“The division dispute still haunts India’s geopolitics,” Chowdhury told CNN ahead of the show’s opening.
The installation “Memory Leaks” consists of 17 copper vessels called “dharapatras”. credit: Courtesy: Pritika Chowdhry/South Asia Institute
To heal these deep schisms, Chowdhury invites visitors to pour water into the vessel. It drips onto scraps of burnt books written in Urdu, the native language of Muslims in India and Pakistan.
The arrangement of the 17 Dharapatras in an unbroken square symbolizes how the past cyclically leaks into the present. Pouring water “is not only a way to put out fires, but it is also a way to make offerings,” Chowdhury explained.
fading memory
Recalling the impact these events had on humans becomes more difficult as the years pass, memories fade, and silence continues for the many families who endured them. Growing up in Delhi, Chowdhury experienced this first-hand with a family that is often silent about her loss. A relative was killed and one daughter was kidnapped and never found.
Chowdhury’s installation Archives 1919: The Year of Crack-Up centers around the 1919 Jallianwalabag massacre. credit: Courtesy: Pritika Chowdhry/South Asia Institute
“The women who survived[from1947]are now almost gone. Of course, the women who survived didn’t speak,” Chowdhury said.
In Bangladesh, some female victims of sexual violence were publicly honored and called ‘vilangona’, meaning ‘brave women’, but they were stigmatized even after coming forward. rice field.
“When they return to the community, they face a lot of ostracism and criticism for revealing terrible things. So it’s kind of a winless situation,” Chowdhury said. . “When a country tries to respect them individually, they are targeted in a different way. And when a country ignores them, their story is erased and that story is lost.”
“So how do you commemorate them? How do you commemorate the experience?” she added. “For me, it’s become my life’s work.”
an intricate history
A work from Chowdhury’s “Broken Pillars” series modeled after the minaret Pakistani pagoda in Lahore. credit: Courtesy: Pritika Chowdhry/South Asia Institute
They are imperfect copies as they are textured with the markings of each monument. As with memory, some details are retained while others are lost. But like his three nations in former British India, they form an interconnected history.
“They are like brotherhoods. (This is) a very violent history,” Chowdhury said.
Chowdhury became disillusioned with India as he grew up. “It was founded on the principle of being a secular nation. All minorities are welcome here. I grew up believing in that secular idea,” she said. But as a teenager, I saw everything fall apart…and when the 2002 pogrom happened, all previous illusions of a secular state vanished.India cannot live. Because it was clear…to that ideal.”
It wasn’t until adulthood that she began exploring the partition’s effects through art, but she slowly came to understand its effects within her own family, especially as her mother began to talk about their losses. Chowdhury’s show’s title, Unbearable Memories, Ineffable History, nods to the experience that the individuals who bore them are too painful to surrender them to history. , I believe that this is where art can be supported.
Installation view of Prithika Chaudhary’s exhibition “Unbearable Memories, Unspeakable Histories” at the South Asia Institute in Chicago. credit: Courtesy: Pritika Chowdhry/South Asia Institute
“I had to interview my mother over the years to find out more,” Chowdhury explained. “At first, when I asked her about it, she just brushed it off. ‘Why do you want to know? I don’t want to talk about it.'” it won’t work. “
“And over the years she’s seen how committed I am to this issue, and little by little she’s opened up.”
Source: www.cnn.com
