punjab

Updated: Aug 24, 2019 22:45 IST

Reviving the memory of victims of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in April 1919, researchers have put together an exhibition of archival photographs, newspapers and installations at an exhibition on display at the Guru Nanak Bhawan.

A short film and poetry written during the period, besides first-hand testimonies of people in the Bagh that day, give voice to the victims lost in the pages of history books. Also on display is a replica of a whipping post used to flog Indians in Lahore.

Open for one week, the exhibition has been organised by the Art and Culture Heritage Trust in the 100th year of the tragedy that affected hundreds.

A REMINDER

The exhibition serves as a reminder of the brutal attack on April 13, 1919, when British General Reginald Dyer oversaw the massacre of several hundred unarmed people gathered at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar. The massacre etched Jallianwala Bagh in India’s collective memory and fuelled the country’s struggle for complete independence from Britain.

Inaugurated by deputy commissioner Pradeep Kumar Agrawal on Saturday, the exhibition also offers a historical narrative into the days preceding the massacre and its aftermath.

Pari Baishya, operations officer of Partition Museum, Amritsar, and coordinator of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust, New Delhi, said, “It took two years of hard work by a team of researchers and curators, who dug out archives both in India and the United Kingdom, to assemble this exhibition.”

One of the visitors, Harjeet Singh, 76, a native of Boparai village, recounted the stories he has heard about the massacre: “I remember tears welling up in the eyes of my grandmother whenever she shared tales about the dark day.”

EXHIBITION TO MOVE TO OTHER PLACES

Exhibition coordinator Rajwinder Kaur said, “After exhibiting in Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana, the exhibition will move to Bathinda, Patiala and Mohali over the next few months.”