Visual Arts Library
1947
Artist: Arpana Caur
Date:
1997
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 175 x 125 cm
Event: India - Pakistan Partition
Motif:
Remembrance
Arpana Caur often works and reworks themes in her artworks, drawing from past events. Though the India-Pakistan Partition occurred before she was born, the artist grew up hearing stories from her family about the impossible nature of deciding to which nation they would belong. The displacement and loss experienced by the artist and her family as a result of the Partition accounts for the recurring theme in her work of the loss of habitat. In this particular painting, Caur paints her grandfather, carrying the burden of memories on his back. On his head, he carries a Holy Book, which the artist states is "a necessity to hold on to the values of harmony and love this Book enshrines, any such Book."
Search this web site: