Exploring impact of WWI on Subcontinent through art

Karachi

Taking a look back at Karachi’s past, it is not unusual to come across many individuals who are in the awe of the British glory in which the city basks in today in the form of language, architecture and culture.

But many conveniently forget the harsh past which haunts the Subcontinent even today - fighting the war of the ‘other’ in search of better prospects.

With German curators Elke Falat and Julia Tieke, “Digging deep, crossing far” has brought together artists from India, Pakistan and Germany to revisit the impact of the World War I on the people of the Subcontinent when the British Army required men in the militia.

Organised by the Goethe Institut, the exhibition held at the Arts Council kicked off initially at the Bangalore Literature Festival and would conclude at Berlin in November.

The gallery does not only have visual installations rather it also uses the popular medium of audio art which greatly helps in tracing the historical dynamics of the period being explored.

Three Pakistani artists, Jamil Baloch, Ayaz Jokhio, Muzzumil Ruheel, and a platform of artists called Tentative Collective, produced works which questioned the century-old question as to what was the benefit of war, through tales weaved in letters, narration in the voices of soldiers as well as subversion of war.

Although Jokhio could not relate to the WWI, he decided to compare sports with warfare by putting up different images of sports in “The Moral Equivalent of War’’, except the pictures have war images embedded in them.

His idea of how we need a substitute for warfare highlights the futility of war: “Instead of vesting energy in war, we can equate the energy elsewhere. National identities are involved in both sports and war; a cricket match can be taken as an example or even a soccer match,” he said.

Ruheel had a sentimental approach because he wanted to dig through the fragmented history. He created a work of fiction, “Love Letters”, by thinking of tale where a woman desperately looks for someone to pen down her feelings in response to a broken letter sent by her lover gone for war.

“Hope” by Jamil Baloch is a short footage of himself as he sits with an impassive expression in a traditional attire with a world map spread in front of him as he pulls out flowers from his mouth symbolising peace. One of the curators remarked that the footage reminded her of how the Taliban were portrayed because of stereotyping but the art showed how propaganda functions in reality and such parallels are created by the dominant systems.

Working closely with audio historical accounts, Tentative Collective has delved into accounts of those soldiers who have lent some of their memories be it in a form of story, a song, a recitation or even just an alphabet to revive the unheard voices of Indian soldiers.

Shahana Rajjani, who is a part of this platform, shared that the project was close to her because of her own association with Karachi: “It was interesting to see how the land has been exploited for mobilisation. The WWI wasn’t the only war which affected the city, rather there is a chronology of wars be it the Cold War or the war against terrorism today. The landscape transformed and has been depleted as well when the Western powers have used the land,” she noted

 Zahra Malkani shared that their experience working with the audio files became “fraught” because it was impossible to overcome the feeling of being related to the speakers.

The work by Ayisha Abraham and Surekha from Bangalore, Sarnath Banerjee from Delhi, and Gilles Aubry from Berlin was also displayed as Aubry sat with a group of visitors later to listen to the responses on recordings.

It was indeed fascinating to hear the voice of soldiers as one farmer hailing from Peshawar sang a song in Pashto; although no one could ascertain the meaning there, all agreed that the song had a joyous feel to it.

In another audio archive, a landlord shared a famous story of how a parrot rescues another from captivity - however it was startling to see how a landlord in Punjab had also agreed to go on war while it is usually assumed that people of low stature had enlisted in the army.

The exhibition will continue until June 4 and have screenings as well as listening sessions for visitors.