New Jersey’s Indian American community share their stories

A unique exhibit at Grounds of Sculpture in Hamilton Township aims to engage with the vibrant Indian community

It’s not very often that an immigrant community gets to share their stories in their own way giving a perspective that is uniquely personal to them.

But now an engaging exhibit in New Jersey is giving voice to Indians to tell their stories, raw, unfiltered and with all the spotlight uninterrupted on them to tell how it is to grow up as an immigrant.

A part of their new Perspective series, the exhibit, entitled ‘Local Voices – Memories, Stories and Portraits’ at Grounds for Sculpture, is giving a chance to the Indian community in the state to share their personal story.

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Back in 2021, Grounds for Sculpture conducted an audience demographic survey and the exhibition has been curated in response to the survey.

The exhibit space partnered with an Indian American folk artist, Madhusmita Bora, who gathered oral histories to come up with a range of diverse, personal narratives.

The exhibit is an immersive space for participants who get to not only showcase through visuals their journey balancing two cultures in America but also talk about the real struggles that almost always go unnoticed or remain unasked.

Bora travelled across the length and breadth of the state to look for storytellers that would embody the essence of growing up as an immigrant in America and she zeroed in on 15 people.

Interestingly, none of these Indian-origin people are professional storytellers or have had a platform to talk about their experiences.

Some of them, share for the first time ever what was it like to grow up surrounded by two cultures – each one more over-powering than the other.

The fascinating thing about the exhibit remains that for the first time perhaps it shifts the attention from how an immigrant should assimilate in a society they choose as their home to the emotions and experiences that shape the person that adapts to their newer home.

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The stories are presented through their larger-than-life portraits and as an almost emotional draw there are also on display personal objects that the individuals have shared as their own mementoes or memorabilia that have found significance in their journey.

There are also recorded audio-visuals where these 15 men and women chosen across a spectrum of ages and professions talk about their deeply personal, yet universally appealing stories.

The stories told by everyday people in unassuming settings are often the ones that make the most impact and the exhibit definitely does manage to arouse those emotions.

The just opened exhibit runs through January 24 at Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton Township, New Jersey.