Curated by Dr. Francine Weiss.
For over twenty years, Annu Palakunnathu Matthew has been making photo-based works of art that deal with lesser-known histories and immigration. Born in England, raised in India, and now living in the United States, Matthew draws on her personal experience and identity and also collaborates to tell the stories of others from South Asia. These experiences and collaborations culminate in powerful and evocative works of art. Although she began her career as an accomplished still photographer, Matthew’s artistic practice has expanded to include installations and sculptures, which incorporate a unique blend of still and moving images and sound. These new works draw on archival photographs for their inspiration and re-examine historical narratives and the legacies of colonization.

This exhibition features early work by the artist, such as her dreamlike black and white film photographs from the series Memories of India and her thought-provoking self-portraits based on Edward S. Curtis’s photographs of Native Americans for An Indian from India. This show also includes a selection of the artist’s compelling recent works about the traumatic aftermath of the Partition of India in 1947 and the forgotten history of Indian soldiers who fought for the British during World War II: Open Wound–Stories of Partition and The Unremembered–Indian Soldiers from the Italian Campaign of WWII. Blending photographs, video, sound, sculpture, text, and narrative for her works, Matthew creates a dynamic and immersive experience for viewers while she recovers many all-too neglected histories.

Crystals, The UNREMEMBERED Indian soldiers World War 2