Scenes of independence and partition at Bhau Daji Lad

The Bhau Daji Lad museum is marking 70 years of Independence with a massive Partition-themed exhibition

Drawings of the displaced, an installation of women’s accounts of a brutal crossing, a theatre as a symbol of a sundering — the Bhau Daji Lad museum is marking 70 years of Independence with a massive Partition-themed exhibition.

Nandita Raman’s untitled work. (HT)

Part Narratives, which generated considerable interest when it was staged in Delhi in January and now travels to Mumbai for a month, draws on art as testimonial (which comprises the artist’s eyewitness accounts of events from the 1940s and ’50s), art as residue (focused on the period from the ’60s through the ’80s), and finally event as historic imperative (attempts at reflection and understanding, seven decades later). “The title draws from the idea of partial truths, departing and departure in the act of migration and inevitably of Partition,” says curator Gayatri Sinha, via e-mail.

“The event is an incredibly fertile subject that has been tracked in film, TV shows, literature and art. But we haven’t had a single major show dedicated to Partition and this is one step to acknowledge the silence that surrounds the event.”

WHAT: Part Narratives, an exhibition on Partition

WHERE: Bhau Daji Lad museum, Byculla East

WHEN: August 13 to September 19, 10 am to 6 pm (Wednesdays closed)

ENTRY FEE: Rs 10

CALL: 2373-1234