The Center’s spring 2019 BIG IDEA project Unraveling considers alternative histories of the colonization of the Americas. Join The Center’s curator, Courtney Gilbert, for a conversation with Gay Bawa Odmark about the aftermath of colonialism in another part of the globe—India. Born in the city of Lahore (in what is now Pakistan), Odmark lived through India’s 1947 Partition (into India and Pakistan), experiencing firsthand the upheaval created by the British colonial administration’s decisions as they withdrew from the region following nearly a century of colonial rule. Odmark will share stories of her memories of her childhood in Lahore, the violence of Partition, and her family’s experiences fleeing Lahore, first for England before settling in Kolkata, where she spent the remainder of her youth. The talk will include photographs from Odmark’s family albums as well as images of artwork Odmark has made in response to her memories of her life in India.

Part of The Center’s BIG IDEA project Unraveling: Reimagining Colonization in the Americas, Mar 8–May 22, 2019.