vivek jain

about
reel

e-x-p-a-n-d-e-d
    १. longing for being
    २. forgotten kins

curatorial
    १. sein und zeit
    २. futuro presente
still
   १. अमन-चमन
   २. glimpses of a woman...
   ३. बरसाती  
   ४. help me, i’m sick
   ५. stagnant  
   ६. ceaseless ephemerality
   ७. रेखाएँ
   ८. under-construction
   ९. a seeker’s log on obscurity
  १०. नींबू-मिर्ची 

motion

   १. biological mother
   २. other reality
   ३. confluence
   ४. égszilánk
   ५. anonüümne
   ६. sh!t just got real
   ७. ouroboros
   ८. the dubliner

fragments of my memories

innominate collective
innominate films





© vivek jain | 2024

forgotten kins

(2024, Italy | Audio-Visual Installation)
(Hand-Engraved Metal Sheet - 150cm  x 100cm, Mono Soundscape)
(An Artistic Research Project realised during the ‘Kinship’ residency program at FABRICA Research Centre)
(Exhibited during the Fabrica30 Festival on 05-06th of July, 2024)

Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic, on 24th March 2020, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a nationwide lockdown at 4 hours’ notice, leaving around 100 million migrant workers stranded. As their food and money dwindled, they were forced to return to their hometowns and villages, the only places offering a chance at a dignified life. [1]

With public transport halted, many walked over 1,000 km. Others cycled, hitchhiked, or paid for private trucks. Tragically, many died from hunger, exhaustion, accidents, or criminal negligence by the Railways. Some even took their own lives. [2]

Their deaths, much like their lives, remained largely anonymous. Apart from brief social media outrage, their stories went unnoticed and unmourned.

Forgotten Kins is a memorial artwork in the form of an audio-visual installation seeking to confront the murky moral grounds of an unequal and unjust society while remembering those who are never acknowledged. It also reminds us of the intangible, ungraspable, yet inescapable contemporary reality where dehumanisation is a constant act and not every life is valued the same.


Documentation by Silvia Longhi


[1] Chahak Gupta (2020). 170 and counting: Migrant workers killed by the lockdown, Newslaundry
      https://www.newslaundry.com/2020/06/03/170-and-counting-migrant-workers-killed-by-the-lockdown

[2] Aman, Kanika Sharma, Krushna R, & Thejesh GN. (2020). India Non Virus Deaths During lockdown (Version 20200730) [Data set]. Zenodo.                                     http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4630198