80 Washington Square East, NYU

Maya Grace Misra

Azaadi Zindabad // Long Live Freedom

May 10 – June 14, 2014

Broadway Windows

Azaadi Zindabad // Long Live Freedom is a site-specific installation by artist Maya Grace Misra from NYU Steinhardt's BFA in Studio Art program. 

Presenting her newest work, Misra delves into sculpture in order to reflect on the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan, as the land was split in the process of independence in order to make the voices of Muslims and Hindus better heard in their “own” nations. Approximately ten million people were displaced from their homes and forced to move across the border into unknown territory. As a result of their frustration and confusion over the mass migration, an estimated one million people were killed. In this work, Misra questions the importance of the Nation over the people it governs, and the way in which issues are metaphorically brushed under the rug in the name of said Nation.

Installation image of the exhibition featuring orange and white flowers, hung on the wall in a line. Below is a folded flag with a fake body underneath it. The flag, while only part is shown in the camera's point of view, the green and white colors and symbol show that it is part of India's flag.
Installation view of the exhibition featuring wall text above three segments of hanging orange and white flowers on the wall. The text is unable to be discerned from the camera's point of view. In front of the wall, there are three fake bodies covered in flags that are stitched together down the middle. The flags are half the flag of India and half the flag of Pakistan. While we know these are fake bodies, they are only partially in view from the camera's point of view.
Close-up view of the installation featuring the bottom of a wall and the installation on the ground in front of it. On the wall, there are two strings of orange and white flowers. Below, is a fake body covered with a flag. The flag is half the flag of India and half the flag of Pakistan. It features the orange and white side of the India flag and half of the crescent moon of the Pakistan flag which is dark green with a white crescent.
Close-up view of the installation featuring, orange and white and green fabric, part of the flags of India and Pakistan covering a fake body. In this, the feet of the body are emerging from the bottom of the flag.