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Unbearable Memories, Unspeakable Histories: The Partition Anti-Memorial Project

  • 1925 South Michigan Ave Chicago, IL 60616 (map)

Through experiential art installations “Unbearable Memories, Unspeakable Histories” investigates the Partition of India in 1947.

This year marks 75 years since the Partition of India in 1947, which created Pakistan, and eventually, Bangladesh in 1971. Often described as the Holocaust of South Asia, the Partition triggered the largest migration in human history with over 20 million people displaced, approximately 2 million killed and over 300,000 women were abducted in the communal violence that ensued.

The exhibition addresses the many facets of the Partition from a counter-memory perspective through experiential art installations. The title alludes to the painful and silenced narratives that have been excluded from mainstream discourses of the Partition.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Pritika Chowdhry is a sociopolitical, feminist, interdisciplinary artist, who creates large-scale sculptures and site-sensitive installations that reference the body to memorialize unbearable memories. Having personally witnessed the intergenerational effects of geopolitical trauma, she has dedicated her work to cataloging the violence of colonialism/imperialism alongside global acts of resistance. 

Since 2007, she has built her oeuvre through the Partition Anti-Memorial Project, a research-based project that excavates subjugated knowledge about the 1947 Partition of India and the 1972 Bangladesh Independence War to build several anti-memorials. 

ARTIST LED TOURS EVERY OTHER SATURDAY | BEGINS AT 1pm

Dates: Sep 3 and 17 | Oct 01, 15 and 29 | Nov 12 | Dec 10


Aug 06- Dec 10, 2022 | Thurs-Sat: 11am-6pm

FREE every Friday with code #CommunitySAI