Curatorial Fellowship 2022/2023

Partition in the Modern World: Transdiasporic Perspectives

2022/2023 Curatorial Fellowship Exhibition
 

Exhibition Dates: July 8 - August 13, 2023

Exhibition Venue: Evanston Art Center, 1717 Central St, Evanston, IL 60201

Artist Panel

A partition is a change of political borders cutting through at least one territory, often dividing a homeland and fracturing communities along religious, ethnic, or other political lines. The 20th century saw over 25 countries partitioned worldwide, causing bloodshed, ethnic violence, and forced migrations of large segments of populations across the globe.

This exhibition engages ten different geopolitical partitions - the partitions of Palestine (1947, 1967, ongoing), Bosnia (1992, 1995), Cyprus (1974), Ireland (1921), Germany (1945, 1949), Mexico (1845, 1848, 1854), Native North America (1830, 1851, 1887), India/ Pakistan (1947), Pakistan/Bangladesh (1971), and Kashmir (1947, 1962, 1963, ongoing).

While there is emerging scholarship in comparative studies of the 20th century partitions of Ireland, India, and Palestine, this art exhibition is unique in juxtaposing ten partitions from different geopolitical and historical contexts in one conceptual space. Hopefully, the thought-provoking art works presented in this exhibition will further the comparative discourse of partitions.

The artists in this exhibition poetically probe the geopolitical phenomenon of partitioning a country and its aftermath through the dual lenses of cultural memories and multiple diasporic locations, laying bare the reverberations of partitions individually, locally, and globally. Examining, questioning, and protesting these partitions in the registers of human rights, political factors, and gendered fallout, the works engage the use of partition as a political tool and its relevance now, in post-9/11 America and globally. This exhibition also makes transdiasporic connections between different partitions. The Transdiaspora Art Project, founded by Pritika Chowdhry, has created a curatorial framework that brings artists together from disparate diasporic locations, around common overarching themes.

An exhibition catalog is envisaged along with artist panels and exhibition walkthroughs at the Evanston Art Center. Subsequently, the exhibition will transition to a virtual exhibition in the Online Partition Museum.

Curator

Pritika Chowdhry is an artist, curator, and writer whose artworks are in public and private collections. Pritika's Partition Anti-Memorial Project was exhibited in the South Asia Institute of Chicago as a solo retrospective, from August 6 to December 10, 2022. It is currently on view at the Online Partition Museum as a virtual exhibition.

Pritika has exhibited her works nationally and internationally in group and solo exhibitions in the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, Queens Museum in New York, the Hunterdon Museum in New Jersey, the Islip Art Museum in Long Island, Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, the DoVA Temporary in the University of Chicago, the Brodsky Center in Rutgers University, and the Cambridge Art Gallery in Massachusetts. Pritika is the recipient of a Vilas International Travel Fellowship, an Edith and Sinaiko Frank Fellowship for a Woman in the Arts, a Wisconsin Arts Board grant, and a Minnesota State Arts Board grant.

Featured Artists

Sonia Ahmad
Salma Arastu
Anagh Banerjee
Ursula Burke
Lana Čmajčanin
Manal Deeb
Madhurima Ganguly
Aida Hasanovic
Nitasha Jaini
Ansab Jehan
Kara Cobb Johnson
Raisa S Kabir
Tulika Ladsariya
Lia Lapithi
Meena Matai
Mariyeh Mushtaq
Nadine Nashef
Gail Ritchie
Roman Robroek
Sabine Senft
Doerte Weber
Shameera Din Wiest
Jafra Abu Zoulouf

Important Dates
 

Exhibition Dates: July 8 - August 13, 2023

Exhibtion Venue: Evanston Art Center, 1717 Central St, Evanston, IL 60201

Opening Reception: Sunday, July 9 at 1-4 PM CDT

 

Curatorial Walkthrough: Sunday, July 23, 1-4PM CDT

Artist Panel: Sunday, August 13, 1-4PM CDT


Keywords

Partition, Partitions, Partition of India and Pakistan, Bangladesh Liberation War, Partition of Mexico, Partition of Ireland, Partition of Palestine, Partition of Bosnia, Partition of Germany, Partition of Vietnam, Partition of Korea, Partition of Sudan, Partition of Poland, Partition of Ukraine.

Learn more about past Curatorial Fellowships

Learn more about our past 2021 / 2022 Curatorial Fellow: Melissa Raman Molitor.

Learn more about our past 2020 / 2021 Curatorial Fellows: Alpha M. Bruton & Adero Knott.

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This project is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and a grant from the Evanston Arts Council an agency supported by the City of Evanston, IACA, and the NEA.