Said Adrus
2021Pavilion V
Said Adrus
Over 1 million troops from colonial India took part in WWI on behalf of the British Empire. This silent and slowed-down archival footage shows Indian and Ghurka soldiers at the Royal Pavilion hospital in 1915, a rare document of their presence in Britain at the time.
Pavilion V
Riddle of Bakuli
Said Adrus
In "Riddle of Bakuli" Adrus shares personal experience interwoven with South Asian narrative within an East African context. The work is a montage of film, stills and sound with Adrus drawing upon his artistic research and residency with Uganda Arts Trust in Kampala, the city where he was born but forced to leave as a child 40 years ago due to the ‘political situation’. Through retracing his footsteps, Adrus revisits Kampala, and the way in which buildings and places trigger profound memories. Memories appear fragmented at first, however through ‘digitised’ archives and contemporary footage, new perspectives and stories emerge. Being displaced to Switzerland / Europe the issue of mobility, belonging and race are still very much current. This life changing event has been a key influence in much of Adrus’s work, exploring exile, communities, script / language and associations with places.
Riddle of Bakuli
Lost Pavilion
Said Adrus
Over 1 million troops from colonial India took part in WWI on behalf of the British Empire. 62,000 lost their lives while overseas. German propaganda suggested that Muslim Indian soldiers who fought for Britain were not being buried according to their beliefs, and in response the War Office opened the Muslim Burial Ground at Horsell Common, Woking, in 1917. Nineteen Muslim Indian soldiers who died in Britain during WWI were buried at the cemetery. The Muslim Burial Ground continued to be used during World War II, but became derelict after the wars. The graves were subjected to racist vandalism, prompting the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to reinter the bodies at Brookwood Military Cemetery in 1969. Adrus' footage of the Muslim Burial Ground shows the site before it was restored as a Peace Garden in 2015. Using photographs, archival footage and interviews he reflects on issues around war, migration, empire and the affinity to place and country.
Lost Pavilion