How does a country regain its identity after being colonized for almost two centuries?For India, along with other emancipated South Asian nations that gained independence from the British Raj between 1947 and 1971, the main solution to reinventing infrastructure, a stark reminder of the hegemonic establishments that had ruled them with an iron fist for so long. The Project of Independence: Architectures of Decolonization in South Asia, 1947–1985, a carefully curated collection of some two hundred archival works commissioned through the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, highlights the nation-building business environment that has gripped countries emerging from extended imperialist rule.
Hall of Industries, Pragiti Maidan, New Delhi, India. Raj Rewal (architect) and Mahendra Raj (engineer). Demolished in 2017. Exterior view
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Municipal Stadium, Ahmedabad, India. Charles Correa (architect) and Mahendra Raj (engineer). Exterior view
Including a variety of original sketches, drawings, photographs, films, audiovisual pieces and architectural models of projects made by eminent personalities such as Indian architect BV Doshi, Minnette de Silva, Sri Lanka’s first collegiate architect and Yasmeen Lari, Pakistan’s first female architect. The exhibition (until July 2, 2022) explains how architecture has reconciled the procedure of decolonization and modernization of nation-states. emerging India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Guest space Golconda, Pondicherry, India. Antonin Raymond, George Nakashima, François Sammer and Chandulal Shah. Exterior view
Kamala House, Ahmedabad, India. Balkrishna V. Doshi. Interior view
Delhi-based architectural photographer Randhir Singh, who was commissioned by MoMA to direct its focus on some of those historic buildings for the Independence Project, believes this is the first time South Asian fashion has been exhibited in such a remarkable way in a first. Traveling to 23 cities in the 4 countries, Singh visited 74 individual sites to compile a wide variety of photographs for the curators overseeing the project. Nations were even razed to the ground; Singh still couldn’t help but feel that he was also acting as an archivist while photographing those spaces. “in Pondicherry,” he says. The buildings are old and the bodies guilty of maintaining them lack the investment and knowledge for their maintenance. I hope my paintings inspire others to photograph and maintain the fashionable heritage in their own cities.
Construction of offices of Ceylon Steel Corporation, Oruwala, Sri Lanka. Geoffrey Bawa and Ulrik Plesner. Exterior view
National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) Building, New Delhi, India. Kuldip Singh (architect) and Mahendra Raj (engineer). Exterior view
Indian coffee, Trivandrum, India. Laurie Baker. Exterior view
Chittagong University, Chittagong, Bangladesh. Muzharul Islam. Exterior view
In india Art Fair, Bushra Waqas Khan’s miniature dresses explore questions about colonialism and the female body.
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