Bamboo blossoms

This project attempts to revisit the site of Assam, through its socio-political and geographical past and present, through the perspectives of minority communities in Assam. For decades, Assam has been a highly politically and environmentally turbulent area, where communities have been subject to social and political negligence. Through this project, the artist attempts to revisit his home state and re-look at the landscape from the perspective of these politically disenfranchised victims who have lost their land, homes, and ultimately, hope. The Miya Muslim communities, for example, have been living in constant fear and hopelessness as their existence and livelihoods get constantly challenged by the ecological/ environmental crises like floods and soil erosion every year. The Indian government’s recent call to update the National Registry of Citizens (NRC) has come as the latest blow to vulnerable communities, lakhs of whom have been now declared illegal immigrants. This project revisits the landscape of Assam through the eyes of the minority communities whose labor has largely contributed towards building and nurturing of the land through agriculture, infrastructure, housing - their crop fields, roads, and homes - as their very basis for existence is relentlessly challenged by populist, ethnocentric views.