Peace, piece by piece

Uprootedness is too deep a wound to be overcome, says Veer Munshi. “It’s been more than three decades since I left Kashmir, but Kashmir has not left me. Even today, I dream of my ancestral house where I spent most of my childhood and youth,” says the acclaimed artist, who was caught in the Kashmiri Pandit exodus in the 1990s.

‘Healing Wounds’, Munshi’s latest solo exhibition in New York, builds upon his ‘Shrapnel’ series. On till March 8, in it he offers aesthetics to counter violence by making use of motifs like an embroidered carpet, an old man rowing a shikara, a wooden bridge over the river, a woman offering prayers, a Pandit reading under a tree, Hindu gods and swirls of paisley. The scent of the unreachable home lingers in each of his works. Each stroke, each layer carries the weight of history — of what was, what remains, and what has been irretrievably lost.

The centrepiece at the exhibition is ‘Qayaam-gah’ (Resting Place), a wooden dargah. The intricate latticework on the windows of this work reveals a row of small caskets with skeletons in traditional papier mache work. Viewers are encouraged to enter the dirt-lined shrine and allow themselves the time to reflect upon the human cost of radicalism. Along the walls hang hand-painted MDF boards with papier mache and Kari-e-Kalamkari work, where images of a tranquil, picturesque Kashmir are stitched together with shrapnel fragments to create delicate backdrops for finely detailed paintings.

Incorporating traditional crafts that are fast vanishing, Munshi’s works archive the Kashmir of today for generations to come. There’s a sense of urgency to document and ensure that what has been erased is not forgotten.

“I can’t bring solutions as an artist. I can only keep reference material for somebody to research further, or do something if somebody has an idea to solve things. What I create is archival material of lost ritualistic traditions or cultural spaces that have been consumed by these long years of conflict. Documenting of history becomes much more essential in a country like ours since we don’t have much of a museum culture as in the West. Museums are key to keeping history alive, much more than temples or other holy shrines,” says Munshi.

A product of the Baroda School of Art, he uses all kinds of mediums and materials to archive this change. “There are different possibilities with different materials — be it paintings, installations, video films, or photography, each tells a different story. For instance, ‘Shrapnel’ emerged when I was caught up in a stone-pelting incident during a visit to Kashmir in 2010. Many people died and there was so much debris. The landscape had changed. So much of scrap was lying on the ground. Those images haunted me and I kept creating those images. Similarly, when I revisited my burnt house or that of my cousins and friends, I felt I was too emotional to paint. So I photographed the houses across the Valley. The result was my series ‘Abandoned Houses’,” he says.

A predicament that continues to worry him is the role of an artist beyond working on his art and documenting what has happened. “Can an artist take a step ahead and be contributory? Can we in some way help in bringing about a change or preserve a lost tradition and culture?” His numerous visits back to Kashmir made him realise that he needed to engage with the community beyond art, something that had led him to curate ‘A Place of Repose’ at the Kochi Muziris Biennale with works of 14 artists, who like him had been affected by conflict in some way. “I felt studio practice is not enough. You have to engage with people rather than just be a reporter.”

‘Healing Wounds’, showcased by Aicon Art, deviates from his previous works. The overturned houseboats and neglected gardens in harsh and dark colours in his earlier works have been flipped right-side-up and nature has been restored. Says Munshi, “I understand that the sense of conflict is the same everywhere. Be it Palestine or Kashmir. And unless the issues are addressed at the core, there will be no solution.”

On the abrogation of Article 370, he says it may have been good for tourism or may have had other aspects, “but how does it really matter if there is no effort to actually bring back the people who had to leave their homes? I don’t think a serious thought has been given to it. It isn’t that big an issue which cannot be resolved. Only political will is needed”.