Amnesia

2018

Amnesia is a conversation between Yaksha (nature spirit) and Intizar Hussain, a Pakistani poet, born in colonial India. The conversation unfolds in the form of a riddle. I have adopted this riddle format from Mahabharata, a major epic from India, consisting of legends and tales revolving around conflicts between two branches of a mythical family. The stories contain elements of cosmology and philosophy. Part of the text has been sourced from Intizar Hussain’s book titled ‘Basti’, which talks about the trauma of partition of India in 1947. The video is layered with archival footage and my father’s narration of his experience of the Partition. Using semi-documentary format, I sew together poetry, fiction, and archival and found footage as methods to construct narratives of unfolding memory, trauma, silence and complicity.

VIDEO INSTALLATION