Sindhi Hindus, a majority mercantile community, had to leave their homes behind in 1947 due to the partition between India and Pakistan; they became refugees in a land that was also a part of their home once.
Since I was also born to a family with roots in Sindh I decided to look at communities of Sindhis in India, however I have never grown up around the sindhi culture as much, While working on the project, I was able to gauge how having common history does not mean one feels at home, people connect on commonalities, however I couldnt feel the same with the people on just by having same history, perhaps my parents did so more since the trauma of partition was felt by them more than I did.
What's the role of a community? And how does one feel connected to it? I have never felt I belonged to any place per se. As a queer person, I haven't found a place where I truly feel I belong. The feeling of constant shifts has always been there, or maybe it's because parts of me belong in different places. But not the whole of me, rather no one does. We are all made of a multitude of beings; some go together, while some don't. The constant need to belong to a place, and sometimes changing our identity to just fit in, also happens quite often.
What's the role of a community? And how does one feel connected to it? I have never felt I belonged to any place per se. As a queer person, I haven't found a place where I truly feel I belong. The feeling of constant shifts has always been there, or maybe it's because parts of me belong in different places. But not the whole of me, rather no one does. We are all made of a multitude of beings; some go together, while some don't. The constant need to belong to a place, and sometimes changing our identity to just fit in, also happens quite often.
What are you looking at?
This project becomes the gaze of an outsider who pretends to belong to a space with which they have very little in common. A culture of which only parts of it resonate with them, does it take away their right to be a part of that space? Although a person can be one thing and also be another, society expects people to conform and be consistent with their pretence; however, we are beings of contradiction. Our being has no objective truth; we are all more than what society expects of us. Accepting this can open up many doors for one as well. You are more than what you are expected of.
