The project builds upon the character of  Sardar Udham Singh, a national hero who shot General Michael O'Dwyer in revenge for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre at Caxton Hall in Westminster, London, on 13 March 1940. 

Udham Singh is perceived as a character of compressed revenge- quickly made synonymous with an aggressive hyper-nationalism through rising extremism. In the last seven years, more than 50 statues of Udham Singh have been installed in public places in Northern India. The proliferation of these statues is a symptom of a brewing instability, making the high stakes apparent. 

The current work from the project is based on a statue of Udham Singh in Karnal. Subsequently, a screen was installed in front of it, that glitched. Navigating a swarm of images, the lingering of Udham Singh, highlights the renovation and aestheticization of the Jallianwala Bagh as a marker of death of history, and a pre-cursor to forthcoming socio-political volatility. Here, new imaginations of nationalism, citizenship, thought and resistance are constructed, an air of fear that engulfs all. 

 

 

 

“The Whisper of an Unfired Shot”,2023, 9 minutes 14 seconds,  4k,  Single Channel Video, Stereo audio

 

 

Screengrabs from “The Whisper of an Unfired Shot”,2023, 9 minutes 14 seconds,  4k,  Single Channel Video, Stereo audio

 

 

“Video Excerpt, "The Whisper of an Unfired Shot”,2023, 9 minutes 14 seconds,  4k,  Single Channel Video, Stereo audio

 

 

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Images from Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar. Left- Bullet holes in the wall marked with white rectangles; Right- Renovated alley from where the soldiers entered on 13th April 1919. 

 

 

Left- Statue of Udham Singh with a gun, Hall Gate, Amritsar; Right- Udham Singh statue at Jallianwala Bagh without a gun.