HOME1947: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy

HOME1947: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy

Video still, Beila. Video still, Beila, 2017. © Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. Photo courtesy of SOC Films.. Photo courtesy of SOC Films.

Overview

HOME1947: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy

February 22 - July 21, 2024

Eleanor Kirkpatrick Main Gallery

Admission is always free; tickets are not required

HOME1947: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy explored the lives and stories of the millions displaced in 1947 during the creation of two new independent nation-states, India and Pakistan. The installation crafted visual memories through a series of short documentary and narrative films, virtual reality, photographs and oral histories, objects and archival documents, and sound installations—recreating the long-lost sights, sounds, and smells of what millions once called home.

Born in Karachi, Pakistani Canadian filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy recalled grasping the human dimension of a painful historical chapter through her grandparents' stories "about childhood homes they left behind, the smell of the earth when it rained, the fragrance of jasmine in the spring, the friendships they longed to rekindle, the mango trees under which they played." Recreating the feelings of loss and longing, Obaid Chinoy stated, "HOME1947 is my ode to that generation."

Initially commissioned for showcase at the Manchester International Festival in 2017 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Partition, the exhibition subsequently toured to Lahore and Karachi. The Guardian described the exhibition in 2017 as “an uncompromising look at lives wrecked by the Partition.” In 2007, ten years before creating HOME1947, Obaid Chinoy helped form The Citizens Archive of Pakistan to initiate the compilation of oral histories on the Partition. She updated the exhibition for its North American debut at Oklahoma Contemporary with two additional films she is directed and produced through her Karachi-based studio SOC Films and with additional material she selected with Noor Ahmed of The Citizens Archive of Pakistan.

Renowned for her award-winning documentary filmmaking, Obaid Chinoy’s first film, Terror’s Children (2002), featured the stories of Afghan refugee children on the streets of Karachi, offering a lens on the collateral damage on lives largely overlooked in post-9/11 analyses. While HOME1947 clearly has historical specificity that resonated with the diasporic South Asian community in the region, the feelings that it evokes also struck a universal chord in a place steeped in stories of displacement that dovetail with what it takes to create a new home—from Oklahoma being a final destination of the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma City opening itself to refugees during and after the Vietnam War and its present efforts toward the settlement of new Afghan neighbors.

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy created a framework that amplified the shared human experience rather than the justifications for polarization on either side of the evisceration created by historical forces. Sharing stories of a generation, she asked questions, “How did it feel that, when you left your home, it not only stopped being your home, but became part of an enemy country? You read the textbooks, you see the news reports or watch archival footage, but everything is from the political point of view. What about the lives they left? The conversations they never finished? The scent of jasmine outside their bedroom window?”

HOME1947: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy recreated a historical chapter to create a space that not only honored memories but also offered an immersive medium through which viewers could measure the accumulating weight of the past in considering the conflicts in the present moment.

HOME1947 Programs

Feb. 22 | In Conversation: Noor Ahmed and Sameer Khan, moderated by Dr. Nyla Ali Khan
March 28 | Community Conversation: Across the Table

About the Artist

Sharmeen Potrait Bina Khan web
Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. Photo by Bina Khan.. Photo by Bina Khan.

The Citizens Archive of Pakistan

© Noor Ahmed. Courtesy of The Citizens Archive of Pakistan web
Noor Ahmed. Noor Ahmed. Photo courtesy of The Citizens Archive of Pakistan.. Photo courtesy of The Citizens Archive of Pakistan.

HOME1947: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy presented by

OH Spot Color Logo

This exhibition was funded in part by Oklahoma Humanities (OH) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the program do not necessarily represent those of OH or NEH.

Additional funding was provided by George Records, The Kanady Family, Leslie and Cliff Hudson, E.L. and Thelma Gaylord Foundation, the Chickasaw Nation, Allied Arts, Velocigo, Annie Bohanon, Visit OKC, the Tyler Family, Dr. and Mrs. Humayun J. Chaudhry, and Julie and Mark Beffort.

Explore the HOME1947 Reading List here
Read recent press here

Selected Artworks

Home1947
Details, HOME1947.
WEB home1947 317 HDR 2024 03 06 220127 ftba
Installation views of HOME1947: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy.
WEB Home1947 95 Edit 2024 03 06 220124 gvls
Installation views of HOME1947: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy.
WEB home1947 230 HDR 2024 03 06 220118 zhfb
Installation views of HOME1947: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy.
Bella HiRes Stills 14th May 2.10.1 web
Video still, Beila.

Images

  • Video still, Beila. Video still, Beila, 2017. © Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. Photo courtesy of SOC Films.. Photo courtesy of SOC Films.
  • Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. Photo by Bina Khan.. Photo by Bina Khan.
  • Noor Ahmed. Noor Ahmed. Photo courtesy of The Citizens Archive of Pakistan.. Photo courtesy of The Citizens Archive of Pakistan.
  • Oklahoma Humanities logo. Oklahoma Humanities logo. Provided by Oklahoma Humanities.. Provided by Oklahoma Humanities.
  • Details, HOME1947. Details, HOME1947: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. © Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. Photos courtesy of SOC Films.. Photos courtesy of SOC Films.
  • Installation views of HOME1947: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. Installation views of HOME1947: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. © Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. Photos by Ann Sherman.. Photo by Ann Sherman.
  • Installation views of HOME1947: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. Installation views of HOME1947: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. © Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. Photos by Ann Sherman.. Photo by Ann Sherman.
  • Installation views of HOME1947: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. Installation views of HOME1947: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. © Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. Photos by Ann Sherman.. Photo by Ann Sherman.

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