Artist of the Information Age Educates Audience About India’s Partition

We live in the Information Age. Its defining characteristics are the access and control of information largely fostered by digital technology. Mathematicians and engineers have even created the research field information theory that investigates the quantification, storage, and communication of digital information. The information age technically began in the 1970s and digital technologies continue to develop and digitizing of physical knowledge – archives, oral histories, and more – is far from complete, Yet, we are often surprised when events are obfuscated, under-researched, or marked by disinformation. 

As is the case with Indian-born, US-based multi-media artist Pritika Chowdhry. When Chowdhry, as an adult, heard about the disappearances and murders on both paternal and maternal sides of her family around India’s Independence she was shocked. Following rebellion and the growth of the revolutionary movement that began in 1857 India became independent from British rule in 1947. This date also marks the partition of the country. The partition along religious lines led to the formation of two countries: India and Pakistan.

Chowdhry has since 2007 researched India’s and Pakistan’s partitions and other tangential global socio-political events. Her research has not only allowed her to make sense of her own heritage but also to educate others about the historical event that created a divide between Muslims and Hindus. A divide that is a problematic presence in contemporary Indian society.

In the series “Broken Columns” which is currently on view at Art Show International Chowdhry has casted parts of monuments of the partition. “The silicone and latex casts are like the ‘skin’ that make the “body” of the monument accessible in a corporeal manner,” says the artist. Another installation, “Silent Waters” presents 101 ceramic feet. It represents the millions of people who were displaced during India and Pakistan’s partition. Citing online and academic sources on her website, Chowdhry transforms digitized knowledge and oral histories into artworks that visitors can connect with on an emotional level.

Expanding beyond concepts of beauty, the function of art in the information age has increasingly become to allow visitors entry points to engage with historical events, bodies of knowledge, or even products and brands in new ways.

This year marks the 75^th anniversary of India’s partition. Chowdhry has made it her mission to show all the works in her series about India’s partition. She will be showing at Woman Made Gallery, Weisman Museum, ARC, Chicago Art Department, Highland Park Art Center, and a retrospective at South Asia Institute in hopes that visitors will accrue new knowledge from her art.

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