Foam Fotografiemuseum Presents Aaryan Sinha's 'This Isn't Divide and Conquer' Photography Acquisition

This acquisition features Aaryan Sinha's series 'This Isn't Divide and Conquer,' exploring the lasting impact of the 1947 Partition of India through his family archives. The project delves into themes of memory, identity, and the re-emergence of divisive ideologies in contemporary India, using intimate visual language.

The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation has acquired Aaryan Sinha's poignant series, 'This Isn't Divide and Conquer,' a project that delves into the enduring impact of the 1947 Partition of India. Sinha explores the complex interplay of memory, identity, and the nation's history through his family archives, bridging the past and present with an intimate yet universally resonant visual language. The series challenges dominant narratives and visual clichés often imposed on India, striving for a more layered and self-aware representation. Sinha's visual approach, developed over several years, is characterized by an intuitive exploration of the land and its history. He revisits and re-edits images, employing subtle interventions and atmospheric restraint to evoke a sense of unease mirroring contemporary political climates. The work deliberately avoids spectacle and clichés, focusing instead on understated observations and ensuring the anonymity of subjects to prevent them from being implicated in a potentially sensitive narrative. The title itself references the British colonial strategy 'Divide and Conquer,' a tactic that fractured families and societies during Partition and whose logic Sinha argues is being repurposed in contemporary India.