Nirvair Singh Rai & Janhavi Sharma: Memory of Land

Photographer and filmmaker Nirvair Singh Rai and visual artist Janhavi Sharma have embarked on a research project across the Punjab region of India and the holy city of Amritsar to create a new body of work. The installation, combining photography and digitally manipulated painting, seeks to remember the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre of 1919 which saw British Indian Army troops fire upon unarmed Indian civilians who were assembled for a peaceful protest and to honour the Sikh festival of Baisakhi.

Through visiting the site, and interviewing local communities, Rai and Sharma seek to understand the psychology of surviving grief through the memory of land; land being the only witness left 100 years on from this deplorable act.

Part of Here There & Everywhere and Nottingham Arts Mela 2019.

Special Thanks:
Arts Council England Lottery Funds, Nottingham Arts Mela, Nottingham Unesco City of Literature. Additional and special thanks to donors – Harbhajan Hundal, Cherry Nijjar, Sonya Kaur, Shiv K Vaid, Jagbir Singh and Parmjit Singh Hundal and Sam Sangha for their generous private donations.

Download exhibition guide here