Diasporic returns : reading partition in contemporary art

Correia, A

Abstract

This paper proposes an expansion of the field of South Asian Partition Studies to include the work of globally dispersed diasporic artists. Undertaking a detailed study of the work of three contemporary artists, Nilofar Akmut, Zarina Bhimji, and Navin Rawanchaikul, this paper suggests that the legacies of the Partition of British India in 1947 traverse geographical boundaries and have been inherited by a generation who were not witness to its cataclysmic events. In specific artworks, Partition is variously directly or obliquely referenced, and provides a contextual frame for the construction of personal identities. Exhibited in Britain, these artworks also serve to remind audiences of the consequences of British Imperialism, and propose that the Partition of British India should rightly be included in narratives of British History.

Citation

Correia, A. (2017). Diasporic returns : reading partition in contemporary art. Third Text, 31(2-3), 321-340. https://doi.org/10.1080/09528822.2017.1371917

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Nov 2, 2017
• Publication Date: Nov 2, 2017
• Deposit Date: Sep 13, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: May 2, 2019
• Journal: Third Text
• Print ISSN: 0952-8822
• Publisher: Routledge
• Volume: 31
• Issue: 2-3
• Pages: 321-340
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09528822.2017.1371917
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09528822.2017.1371917
• Related Public URLs: http://www.thirdtext.org
• Additional Information: Projects : Articulating British Asian Art History