Following the Box

At the end of WWII, an American soldier stationed in India took a series of photographs depicting everyday life in West Bengal. Nearly sixty years later, curators Jerri Zbiral and Alan Teller discovered a box filled with these photographs at a Chicago-area estate sale. Zbiral and Teller traced the box back to West Bengal and invited a group of Indian artists to respond to the photographs. Following the Box is an innovative contemporary art exhibition featuring painting, film, graphic illustration, and folk art, as well as multimedia and conceptual art. Each work draws inspiration from the original photographs, exploring the elusive nature of memory, political and military histories, and cultural identity.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.