Explore An Amnesiac’s Memory With Krupa Makhija

Text by Huzan Tata

Question culture, language and identity with the young artist’s evocative creations

(Click on any image to view in larger gallery.)

Loss of land is something much greater than simply losing one’s physical home. It leads to the loss of identity, culture, and life as one knows it. In her new exhibition, Glenfiddich Emerging Artist of the Year 2015 award-winner Krupa Makhija creates symbolic representations of her personal experiences as a second generation immigrant from Pakistan in the post-Partition era. Says the note for the show, “Krupa endeavours to express the dilemma of people from that era who are seen as ‘outsiders’. From burnt canvases to found objects and architectural waste, her work is representative of destruction & nostalgia. Through her practice, she is constantly looking back and referencing to relate to and understand the present.”

5 Questions with the artist, Krupa Makhija

1. Artistic motivations “Questions about my own identity, cultural roots, and language are somehow transformed into my works. ‘Cultural amnesia’ this term can best represents my works.”

2. Inspirations “G.N. Devy, a famous linguist, has inspired me a lot. His writings influence my concepts of language, and how it is rooted in many things like culture, traditions, and communities. Loss of language is the loss of an entire culture.”

3. On the wall at home “I would like to have Zarina Hashmi’s works if I got a chance, because I think we both share a similar journey. Though she is a direct witness of migration, I am not. I like her simplified representations of harsh and complex things.”

4. Concerns that find a place in your art “How cultural destruction travels from generation to generation. Migration changes a whole cultural identity, and gradually we started losing knowledge about ourselves. I grew up with many stories of the pre-Partition era. These experiences are somehow transformed in to my works.”

5. If not an artist, you would be… “I don’t think I can do anything else except art. Maybe I would have continued in my family profession of lawyers or joined the judiciary.”

An Amnesiac’s Memory is on display at Art District XIII, New Delhi (F-213 C, Old M.B. Road, Lado Sarai) until September 6, 2016