m i l a d e e l b y r • The artist performed this poem at Trafalgar Square, beneath the statue of General Henry Havelock and distributed copies to bystanders along with a few grains of rice. It unravels as a conversation between a colonized native and a regal colonizer. Later, despite police forbiddance Inder went on to stand beside the Queen’s Guard wearing his bright red Bandwallah uniform with “1857” appliquéd on the back.
“One million died, And I was born: INDIA 1857” Facing Page: Ghazal Numa, 2009 Above: The Other 1857 at Trafalgar Square, 2008
rtist Profiles
The other 1857 mocks at the patriotic fervour with which the revolt has been monumentalized. Instead, Inder examines the seed of rebellion and places it within an antithetical context. While drawing parallels between the Indian sepoy of 1857 and the contemporary bandwallah, the artist charts a subaltern narrative that uncovers the velocity of violence and undaunted repression at the fringes of documented histories.