The Other Side

PRAMOD BANERJEE

REFUGEE CAMPS

GEETA PARIAL

PADMA, BANGLADESH

SASHANKA BANERJEE

INDO-BANGLA BORDER

MUSTARD FIELDS

INDEPENDENCE!

PAKISTAN, ZINDABAD!

ETHNIC CLEANSING I

ETHNIC CLEANSING II

SILENCE

ONLY REMAINING INHABITANT

ACROSS THE BORDER

CAMPS

AN EYE FOR AN EYE I

AN EYE FOR AN EYE II

FEAST

In August 1947, when, after nearly three hundred years in India, the British finally left, the subcontinent was divided into two independent nation states: Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. This led to the greatest mass migration in human history, as millions of Muslims trekked to West and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) while millions of Hindus and Sikhs headed in the opposite direction against the backdrop of savage communal violence. Many did not make it. Of those who did, thousands have already passed away, and the rest, are in the twilight of their lives, having lived with the burden of this profound tragedy.

This is an on-going project on the Partition of India, consisting of a collection of woodcut prints and monoprints depicting stories of separation of those who were uprooted overnight and displaced with the promise of a new home during the Partition.

The seeds of this project were planted in a course taught by the late Carl Titolo and Marshall Arisman as a part of the MFA Illustration program at the School of Visual Arts, which then became the subject for my thesis, and has been a labour of love since.

"The past is never dead. It's not even past." - William Faulkner