Diving practice-based research
Diving forms part of an ongoing series of multimedia assemblages in which the personal stories of fictional characters intersect with actual historical events. Based on Arne Sjögren’s own family archives and interviews with family members, Diving explores the ways in which a colonial Indian upbringing has shaped the subsequent post-independence life and relationships of an English woman – in particular, her intimate bond with her ayah or nanny. In contrast to the world of the coloniser, the ayah’s caring relationship with the daughter and the domestic bonds that tie her to the colonial family are presented from the imagined point of view of the ayah herself, the ‘other’, in the form of a lyrical poem spoken aloud by the ayah. Watch each fictional story and view the set-up and making of the films:
The set-up in the gallery space
Download PhD thesis:
Diving: using fiction narrative and intermedial assemblage to understand family histories in colonial India between 1933-1947