Stories of bravery travel far and wide but in India, certain stories and their
subjects have not been given their deserved place in history. Taking this issue
forward, Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, professor of Art (Photography), Department
of Art and Art History, at the University of Rhode Island, USA, is creating a
video documentary, titled, ‘The Unremembered: Indian Soldiers from the Italian
Campaign of World War II’.
She describes the project as a tribute to
the 2.5 million Indian soldiers who fought for the British in World War II and
are largely forgotten in history because of their politically complicated
position. She has created a video with historical film footage projected onto
the gravestones at twilight in the cemeteries in Italy, where the Indians are
buried and/ or memorialised. She has focused on the Italian campaign, where 30%
of the Victoria Crosses were awarded by the British to the Indian soldiers.
Most died while fighting the battle of Monte Cassino
The video is an ongoing project and Annu
is still working on meeting families in India. She was recently in Goa, where
she connected with a few families but has to still hear their stories, which
will be part of the project. She intebnds to speak more about them later ponce
she meets them. The video is currently of 3 minutes and 20 seconds duration.
Annu will be in India for six months to collect these photographs. There will
be some time for post production. After that, she hopes to exhibit it here in
India, the UK and in the USA.
Born in the United Kingdom, Annu lived for
a few years in Bangalore before moving to the United States of America.
Currently the Director of the URI Center for the Humanities, she works on
photo-based work that are inspired by her cultural exchange among these
countries and being an immigrant in the USA. Her previous exhibitions include
‘To Majority Minority’, ‘An Indian From India’, ‘Open Wound’, ‘ReGeneration’,
‘Memories of India’ and ‘Bollywood Satirized’, which has travelled across the
globe.
Having worked on various aspects of immigration through her art,
Annu says, “Only some of my work on immigration is about memory. Some of the
work is about being both an insider and an outsider and comes from my
experiences of having been born in England, growing up in India and now living
in the US.”
Her work has been widely appreciated globally, yet projects
bring her back home. “A lot of my work brings me back to my cultural homeland,
where I grew up. Some of the fond memories are of family, friends, food,
gestures, smells and sounds that can be seen in the work ‘Memories of India’.
Some of my not so fond memories of India are of the patriarchal society that I
explore in the work ‘Bollywood Satirized’.
Speaking about what inspired her to begin documenting these lost
stories for ‘The Unremembered...’, she says, “For the last decade, I have been
doing work on Partition in the work ‘Open Wound - Stories of Partition’.
Through that work, I discovered that over 25 lakh Indians fought for the
British in the Second World War but their contributions are not acknowledged globally,
let alone in India. That led to the work I did on the Italian Campaign
commissioned by the Kochi Muziris Biennale and now to looking at all the places
that the Indian soldiers fought during my current Fulbright in India. I
initially focussed on the Indian soldiers’ contributions in the Italian
Campaign in the Second World War, as the Battle of Monte Cassino was critical
for the Allies to win WWII and they played a critical role.”
Living in the UK, what was her experience with Indian history
and the involvement of Indian soldiers during the colonial rule? “Absolutely
none. As Winston Churchill supposedly said, ‘History is written by the
victors.’ Until recently, little of India’s contributions were ever
acknowledged in the UK,” she says.
Besides this project, which is taking up most of her time, Annu
is also working with students from Srishti College of Art, Design and
Technology, Bangalore to create a temporary public installation of the work at
the Cubbon Park Metro Station in Bangalore. Most of the photos and stories will
be from Bangalore families that students have collected.
If one wants to share the stories and photographs of their ancestors who were involved in WWII, Annu is all ears. “The photographs that I am currently collecting are from family albums and show the personality of the person (vs a headshot). I have also been collecting many poignant stories about their experiences and their families. I am looking for more! Do share them at Indiansoldiers1945@gmail.com. You can also read more at www.Indiansoldiers1945.com,” she concludes.