By 1945, 2.5 million Indians had volunteered to fight for the Allies during World War II (WWII). Thirty of them won Victoria crosses, and more than 87,000 died. Yet, in India and the world, they remain uncommemorated and unremembered.

Fulbright scholar Annu Palakunnathu Matthew will parse out the confluence of factors that played a role in this complicated history. Her photo-based artwork is a striking blend of still and moving imagery and draws on archival photographs to re-examine and question established narratives to consider shadow histories.
She is currently crowdsourcing family photographs of the WW2 Indian soldiers. Bring yours to be scanned!