Citizenship in Assam is a long-contested issue shaped by the forces of migration, partition and communalism, xenophobia and hatred for the “other”. The dehumanized progression of the National Register of Citizen (NRC) is also an outcome of some of these conflicts.

The exhibition attempts to bring in some of the experiences of living in a state of intolerance, ambiguity and disparity. The ongoing losses of land, home and hopes of the people of Assam in the name of communal and ethno-religious hatred; the traces and remnants of these wounds which is unfolding today under various political forces and has established new forms of pressure on the lives of people living there. The exhibition proposes to look at some of the aspects of these sufferings on the grounds of emotional and psychological level.

Dis-Place is structured around various areas of disagreements, discomforts and dislocation, each framing questions connected to the general line of inquiry while they also open up specific discussion points. It touches upon topics which are equally urgent to Assam as they are to the world: migration, marginalisation, economic and/or cultural appropriation. The exhibition further deliberates on related issues of borders and places of ownership, challenges, hopes and dreams and of utopian sensibilities vis-à-vis forced displacements. Dealing with the sufferings and losses of people, the project provides a discussion board to foster humanitarian values, social inclusion and much needed empathy in our societies.

Artists

Dhrubajit Sarma, Thlana Bazik

Performance

Anupam Saikia