Kashmir 2019
My politically oriented paintings began with this piece.
Kashmir has been a contested region ever since the 1947 Partition of the British Indian Empire that created the separate countries of India and Pakistan. Historically, it’s been a separate entity—first as a princely state, and later as a virtually autonomous Indian state (India’s only Muslim-majority state). However, this ended in 2019 with “legal” changes, and a massive occupation by India’s military. Losing its autonomy, Kashmir got turned into one of the largest prisons that ever existed. All rights were taken away. Its population was cut off from the rest of the world, and its politicians were exiled or imprisoned.
The left side of this work shows a beautiful, almost perfect place. But its tree—symbolizing life—is getting squeezed by the Indian flag tied around its trunk. Life is being sucked out in the form of blood. This blood continues to the right side, where death and destruction prevail. Things are no longer safe there. Dead trees, blood, and dark clouds surround that section.
I used the concept of day and night—daytime to show life; night to represent death and horror.