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Chowdhry’s newest exhibition, which is titled “Unbearable Memories, Unspeakable Histories: Partition Anti-Memorial Project” wrestles with the horrific events of the Partition of India and Pakistan, and its complex legacy, which is still inherited by individuals across the world today. The new exhibition is now open to the public at the South Asia Institute in the Prairie District just south of Downtown Chicago.
More information about the exhibition and details about planning visits can be accessed at https://www.pritikachowdhry.com/partition-75th-anniversary
The exhibition is being held on the 75th anniversary of the Partition, and reflects that while Indian Independence was a jubilant moment for the nation, it also resulted in the violent and disruptive Partition which cleaved India and Pakistan apart. It would also precipitate the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.
In particular, what Chowdhry’s new anti-memorial exhibition explores is the violence that occurred during that period, more specifically, the sexual violence that was endured by women on both sides of the dividing line, and across all faiths, including Muslim, Sikh, Bengali, and Hindu.
‘Unbearable Memories, Unspeakable Histories: Partition Anti-Memorial Project’ serves as Chowdhry’s testament to what was unspoken at that time, and still often remains so, and uses Foucault’s theory of ‘Counter-Memory’ to artistically excavate this harsh period in India and Pakistan’s joint history.
Through experiential art installations that use mixed materials, soundscapes, and the tension between open space and corporeal bodies, Chowdhry hopes to make manifest the experiences of women during this time, and to both educate and evoke empathy in gallery attendees.
More information about Chowdhry’s can be accessed at https://www.pritikachowdhry.com
Artist Pritika Chowdhry’s own grandparents were survivors of the Partition, but many members of their community and extended family were not so fortunate. It is this complex personal legacy and tragedy which the renowned and accomplished artist also brings to life in her stirring new exhibition.
Chowdhry has an MFA in Studio Art and an MA in Visual Culture and Gender Studies from the University of Wisconsin. Her work has been exhibited extensively nationally and internationally, including at Weismann Art Museum in Minneapolis, Queens Museum in New York, and the Hunterdon Museum in New Jersey.
Jacqui Palumbo, a Senior Writer and Producer at CNN said of the new exhibition, “Through quiet but searing installations, artist Pritika Chowdhry reckons with violence that ripples through generations: mass displacement, rape and riots tracing back to the snaking borders that split a nation.”
Jacque Micieli-Voutsinas, PhD, Assistant Professor of Museum Studies at the University of Florida, similarly attested to the emotive weight of her anti-memorials, stating, “Pritika Chowdhry’s artwork is a powder keg of emotionality, raw talent, and visceral grit. I have never met a more thoughtful, theoretically engaged artist-scholar-educator-activist. Counter-Memory Project is the stuff of truth-telling, trauma-healing, and narrative-forging.”
More details about Chowdhry’s Partition Anti-Memorial Project can be found at https://www.pritikachowdhry.com/partition-art
Contact Info:
Name: Pritika Chowdhry
Email: Send Email
Organization: Pritika Chowdhry LLC
Address: 1701 Somerset Lane, Mundelein, IL 60060, United States
Website: https://www.pritikachowdhry.com
Release ID: 89085634