This project investigates how collective memories of the Partition of India in 1947 and the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971 are formed through these nationalistic monuments. This project excavates the problematic memories that were erased from these monuments because they do not serve the nation-building agenda. These are the counter-memories that I access and make legible. Latex and silicone casts of sections of the monuments such as stairs, walls, doors, niches, and ornaments, capture details and textures of intimate spaces within the larger architecture. The casts are the “skin” of the monuments and reveal every mark, stain, and blemish. In this visceral and abject form, these casts are able to allude to the counter-memories that are elided from these monuments and are able to function as anti-memorials.
