If you want to experience the best in interactive postmodern art in Chicago, you don’t want to miss this solo exhibit of Pritika Chowdhry. It memorializes the cyclically occuring communal riots in India through an anti-memorial using traditional copper pots and burnt Urdu books.
Pritika Chowdhry is a forward-thinking artist who provokes deep thought and contemplation through her work. Don't miss your chance to take part in a deeply moving, interactive display at the South Asia Institute of Chicago!
The display uses dharapatras, which are copper pots with a spouted bottom that traditionally drip water or milk onto Hindu deities. They are combined in this piece with havankunds, copper containers that are used to light the holy fire in Hindu temples.
Get all the details of this project at https://www.pritikachowdhry.com/memory-leaks
Pritika Chowdhry's project uses 17 dharapatras, and each has been etched with the place and year of a communal riot that happend in India. Water drips from these installations onto 17 paired havankunds, and each contains partially burnt book pages and newspapers written in Urdu, the language spoken by Muslims in India and Pakistan.
The artist uses these burnt books and newspapers to allude to the use of arson in these riots that specifically target and burn Muslim houses and shops razing them to the ground.
The communal riots uncannily replicate the violence of the 1947 Partiton of India and Pakistan, and Pritika Chowdhry encourages viewers to memorialize the victims of these riots by the simple act of pouring water into the dharapatras, which actively creates a 'memory leak.'
The installation is designed to create a timeline of post-1947 communal riots and raises awareness about the long-running Hindu-Muslim conflicts throughout the country. It is available to visit at the South Asia Institute of Chicago and marks the 75th anniversary of the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan.
Pritika Chowdhry describes herself as a socio-political feminist artist, and her work revolves around the notion of creating 'anti-memorials' to traumatic events throughout history. Previous projects have examined civil and military wars, terrorist attacks, and more.
Her work is designed to be quietly provocative, and incorporates visceral materials that allow the viewer to play a central role in the experience. Images and video of the work on her website showcase the Memory Leaks anti-memorial.
The artist states: "I am appropriating the dharapatras and havankunds as objects loaded with ritualistic significance and reinscribing them as containers of history that tenaciously hold and incessantly leak the counter-memories of communal violence into the present day."
If you're a fan of art brimming with meaning and want a unique interactive experience, be sure to visit the exhibition!
Check out https://www.pritikachowdhry.com/post/partition-india-communal-riots for any additional details you need!
