The North-East Blog
Know what leading academics, writers, poets, musicians, activists and journalists from the region have to say to develop an informed perspective on matters related to this part of India.
by In one of my recent conversations with an artist working on issues of home and belonging, I came across interesting metaphors of identity and place. According to her, the home is a mental phenomenon and memory is the address. It set me thinking on my own experiences of leaving home - Shillong - about 17 years back. Living with this sense of a 'remembered Shillong' with memories of a childhood that had a kind of magical realism, home is indeed a mental phenomenon, tied with feelings of fixation and loss.
When I visited Shillong recently, I walked its roads as if I never left the place, weaving in and around its narrow lanes, speaking to the pine-laden air and the cerulean blue skies. I waited to hear the sound of rain on the red sloping tin roofs and snuggled into...Read more...
More about Amrita Gupta Singh
Amrita Gupta Singh is an art historian and writer with an interest in arts management. Born and brought up in Shillong, she studied Applied Arts and Art History in Kolkata and Santiniketan after completing her BA from NEHU. She was a Visiting Lecturer at the JJ School of Arts, Mumbai (2003) and Fellow, ArthinkSouthAsia (2010-11). Currently, she is the Programme Director at the Mohile Parikh Center, Mumbai, and writes on modern and contemporary Indian art.
Recent Posts by Amrita Gupta Singh
- Inner Worlds: Of fixation, loss and living
In one of my recent conversations with an artist working on issues of home and belonging, I came across interesting metaphors of identity and place. According to her, the
Sanatombi
Rowdy Sandrembee: The salaried beggars of modern ManipurWhen power is misused, chaos becomes the norm of a society. In our society, sad but true, power is misused in each and every sector. It is too common
Soibam Haripriya
Raping the OtherArticles in local newspapers in Manipur for the past few months have been bordering on a misogynist strain of thought. Many of the articles expectedly commented on women opting
Akhu Chingangbam
The Imphal music projectThe Imphal Music Project is conceived by an Imphal-based band Imphal Talkies which was earlier based in New Delhi. The project is not for art for art's sake or
Subir Bhaumik
'Bangla Spring' brings back spirit of 1971If the Arab Spring was all about democracy and people power, this spring in Bangladesh is all about rejuvenation, a return to the spirit of 1971 that made independence
Sumana Roy
Uttor: Of Fearful Symmetry - a leopard in SiliguriWho would have imagined certainly not I that one day I would have to make a phone call to my mother in Siliguri to ask her to keep the
Binalakshmi Nepram
Northeast India Matters: weaving our collective histories Did you know that the Chinese called Manipur 'Hso Po lo mein' and the Burmese called it 'Kathe', that Manipur called Tripura 'Takhel' and that till date there is
Easterine Kire
The narratives silenced by war: the Barkweaver project of peoplestories and folktalesOnce upon a time, a young man had a pond. It held such clear, sweet water that went down your throat smoothly and left behind a lingering taste of
