Pulled through Time: Art and the Indian Labour Migrant

Abstract

This paper discusses the processes through which historical research, visual archives, and artistic production have interacted to produce a series of original artworks capturing some of the complexities of Indian indentured migrants’ experiences and identities. The images from the ‘Coolitude’ series by award-winning artist Danny Flynn apply modern screen-printing techniques to archival photographs of Indian indentured labourers. The artistic reimagining of these historical images was inspired by the ideas of Mauritian poet Khal Torabully and the work of the historical research project, ‘Becoming Coolies: Rethinking the Origins of the Indian Ocean Labour Diaspora’. The latter attempts to reinterpret the colonial Indian labour diaspora by drawing upon accounts of migrants themselves to reassess the mechanisms of migration and reassign subjectivity and agency to Indian labour migrants’ experiences. The artworks themselves seek to interrogate and challenge the stereotypical image of the so-called ‘coolie’, presenting a more nuanced view of the Indian labour migrant. This paper discusses the creation of the visual archive from which the original images are drawn, as well as the conceptual and creative processes that underpin their reimagining as original works of art.