There is an ongoing anti-memorial art project that brings light to traumatic geopolitical events, particularly the events that occurred in the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan. Pritika Chowdhry uses her skills as a visual artist to bring light to what many people have forgotten.
There are wounds that time can’t heal; histories that need to be remembered. Seventy-five years ago, one of the greatest genocides in history was taking place.
What should have been a historic victory for India after gaining independence from the British turned out to be one of the bloodiest events in history. And even today, this trauma has been left in millions of Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis.
Pritika Chowdhry's ongoing anti-memorial project “Broken Column: The Monuments of Forgetting” features latex and silicone casts of monuments and historical objects that triangulate the divide in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Chowdhry first began the Partition Anti-Memorial Project in 2007 and has created site-specific, research-based anti-memorials that feature the counter-memories of those whose lives were forever changed during the partitions of 1947 and 1971. Her exhibit includes several latex and silicone casts of the Jallianwallan Bagh memorial in Punjab, India, Minar-e-Pakistan monument in Lahore, Pakistan, and Martyred Intellectuals monument in Rayer Bazar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Learn more about it at https://www.pritikachowdhry.com/broken-column
On her official website, Chowdhry talks about the Broken Column project and shares photos of herself making latex and silicone casts of stairs, walls, doors, niches, and ornaments in the aforementioned monuments. These delicate casts capture the intricate details of each monument and create a “copy” of significant sites of memory or lieux de memoires.
She explains that her goal is to create a quitely provocative and experiential environment for viewers of her art exhibit. Her anti-memorial project, which is currently being exhibited at the South Asia Institute in Chicago, also hits an important milestone as it commemorates the 75th anniversary of the 1947 Partition of India. Go to https://www.pritikachowdhry.com/partition-75th-anniversary to learn more.
This historical event divided the Indian subcontinent into the independent nations of Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. Historians recount the 1947 Partition as one of the most horrific events of modern times, stating that more than two million people lost their lives during this period, with wanton murder, rape, and assault happening in broad daylight on the streets. Further details can be found at https://www.pritikachowdhry.com/post/partition-of-india-monuments
Though less than 100 years ago, society has glossed over what happened to women, and religious minorities, who suffered for their right to live freely. What history has forgotten and swept under the rug, art has uplifted and compelled the world to see.
Chowdhry, whose grandparents survived the Partition but lost several members of their extended family to the communal riots that erupted in its wake, explained that her art is meant to make gestures of repair and healing, and raise collective awareness of what happened decades ago and how to avoid similar events in the future.
Broken Column remains an ongoing project and will continue spreading awareness about these traumatic geopolitical events of 1947 and 1971.
Chowdhry writes, "As a socio-political, feminist artist, I make art installations that are anti-memorials to traumatic geopolitical events, such as partitions of countries, civil and military wars, riots, border violence, genocides, and terrorist attacks. A specific focus for me is to raise awareness about rape as a weapon in wars and conflicts in the 20th and 21st centuries."
Visit https://www.pritikachowdhry.com/post/sites-of-memory-lieux-de-memoires to learn more about sites of memory or lieux de memoires.
