Jagdeep Raina : Memories Gave Birth to Hope

3 Dec 2020-24 Jan 2021

Overview

This installation features Raina’s drawing Jabeen’s face darkened, as whispers of imperialism slipped from her mouth, and then the screen faded to black…where are we going? This work is part of a larger series that looks at the protests taking place throughout Europe in the 1970s against racism and fascism. This was happening alongside the birth of Bhangra music, which was created by working class South Asian Migrant labourers who worked in the industrial factories of Britain—specifically Birmingham and the outskirts of London—and was popularized in Canada, the United States, and back to the Global South. Bhangra remixed traditional Punjabi folk with hip hop and reggae, and was, to many, a rebellion against rigid holds on tradition in the diaspora. Raina studied the historical development of Bhangra music through documentaries, photographs, oral history interviews, album covers, and other ephemera. Through this research, he became interested in the relationship between Bhangra and anti-colonial, anti-racist, and feminist activism.