Gauging Trauma & Empathy
South Asian Visual Arts Centre, 2007
Monitor 3, SAVAC's third annual screening of contemporary South Asian film and video offers a curated glimpse into the vast amount of work being created by South Asian artists internationally. The videos selected for Monitor 3 (both by design and coincidence) deal with traumatic actions, testimony and mobility. What do these prevalent themes tell us about video practice within the South Asian diaspora? Can video be a tool for empathy and healing in the aftershock of tragic events or physical assault? The representations of these themes and subject matter vary forcefully. They range from acts of assault, technically aggressive camera and editing styles, statements on prejudice and the past, to essayistic examinations of distressing events.
ITEM 2007.170 – available for viewing in the Research Centre
Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited
Outside the Saying of It – Vaidehi Chitre
Patriot Story – Naeem Mohaiemen
fire, fences and flight – Ayesha Hameed
Ishnan – Tejpal S. Ajji
Dead Beat – Smirti Mehra
Clifton to Saddar – Faisal Anwar