Partition in the Modern World: Transdiasporic Art Perspectives

2022/2023 Curatorial Fellowship Exhibition

Opening Reception: Sunday, July 9, from 1-4pm. RSVP.

Curatorial Walkthrough: Sunday, July 23, 1-4pm. RSVP.

Artist Panel and Discussion 1-2:30pm and Closing Events 2:30-4pm: August 13 RSVP

The Evanston Art Center (EAC) is excited to present a new exhibition, Partition in the Modern World: Transdiasporic Art Perspectives, curated by 2022 / 2023 Curatorial Fellow, Pritika Chowdhry.

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.

Partition in the Modern World: Transdiasporic Art Perspectives engages eleven different geopolitical partitions: the partitions of Palestine (1947, 1967, ongoing), Bosnia (1992), Cyprus (1974), Ireland (1921), Germany (1945), Mexico (1848), Native North America (1830-1850), India (1947), Pakistan/Bangladesh (1971), and Kashmir (1947, 1962, 1965).

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 actors, and gendered fallout, the works engage partition as a political tool and its relevance now, in post-9/11 America and globally.

This exhibition also makes transdiasporic connections between different historical 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. 

FEATURED ARTISTS

Aida Hasanovic

Anagh Banerjee

Ansab Jehan

Doerte Weber

Gail Ritchie

Jafra Abu Zoulouf

Kara Cobb Johnson

Lana Cmajcanin

Lia Lapithi

Madhurima Ganguly

Manal Deeb

Mariyeh Mushtaq

Meena Matai

Nadine Nashef

Nitasha Jaini

Raisa S Kabir

Roman Robroek

Sabine Senft

Salma Arastu

Shameera Din Wiest

Sonia Ahmad

Tulika Ladsariya

Ursula Burke

After the physical exhibition at EAC comes to an end, the exhibition will transition to a virtual exhibition in the Online Partition Museum.

ABOUT THE CURATOR

Pritika Chowdhry is an artist and curator, whose artworks are in public and private collections. Chowdhry’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.

Chowdhry 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. Chowdhry 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.