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Partition: The Invisible Line

Explore the invisible effect of India's partition - the largest mass human displacement in human history- as manifested in lost stories and art.

Tanya Momi

Tanya Momi is more than an artist; she's a compassionate soul weaving profound stories through her art. With a degree in Fine Arts from Chandigarh, India, her journey led her from overcoming an abusive marriage to rediscovering her passion in Silicon Valley. For 22 years, her paintbrush lay dormant until reignited by close friends, prompting a powerful resurgence.
Tanya's creations delve into the 1947 partition between India and Pakistan, echoing the pain of over 10 million affected lives. Titles like "Divided" and "Remember Us" encapsulate the deep suffering. Her art is a conduit for change, sparking dialogues on women's empowerment, even reaching the White House. Exhibited globally, from Beverly Hills to Vienna, Tanya's work transcends boundaries, touching hearts and uniting souls.
In a world where art transforms lives, Tanya Momi stands as a beacon of hope, weaving tales that bridge divides and inspire unity.

 

Guneeta Singh Bhalla

Guneet Bhalla

Guneeta Singh Bhalla is founder of The 1947 Partition Archive.  Previously, she was an experimental condensed matter physicist who completed her tenure as a post-doctoral researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Department of Physics at the University of California at Berkeley.

After a 2008 visit to the oral testimony archives at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial she was inspired and began interviewing Partition witnesses in 2009.  It was a deeply enriching experience and she wanted to share it with everyone.  She was also troubled with the realization that the generation of eye witnesses was nearly gone and taking their stories with them. This led to the concept of crowdsourcing oral histories of Partition, thereby engaging the public in recording the people’s history of the world’s largest mass human displacement.  She gathered a team and began recording oral histories in 2010. In 2011 The 1947 Partition Archive was born.  She has personally interviewed over 100 of the 5,300 Partition witnesses interviewed by The 1947 Partition Archive, rallied volunteers from all walks of life and built the grassroots foundations of the largest repository on Partition witness accounts.  In 1947 her father’s family migrated from Lahore to Amritsar on August 14.

Dr. Dalvir Pannu

Dr. Dalvir Pannu

Dr. Dalvir Singh Pannu is an award-winning dentist and founder of Pannu Dental Group which has multiple locations in Bay Area, California. He was inspired to research and write the book Sikh Heritage: Beyond the Borders by his long-standing passion for unearthing the narratives of Sikh historical and religious places displaced during the India–Pakistan partition of 1947. Today, these monuments stand out as the symbols of peaceful and harmonious past lives of people sharing a heritage whose affinities go beyond physical borders and territories. 

Ritu Marwah

Ritu Marwah

Ritu Marwah is an award-winning author ✍️ and a recognized Bay Area leader in the field of 🏛 art and literature. She won the 2023 Ethnic Media Services award for outstanding international reporting; 2022 San Francisco Press Club Journalism excellence award as well as 2021 and 2020 California Award for Journalism. A California reporting and engagement fellow at USC‘s  Annenberg Center for Health Journalism and fellow at UCLA’s Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies (LENS). Ritu curates and moderates panel at the South Asian Literature and Art festival and Indians for Collective Action. 🏆 Her body of work is recognized and awarded for its versatility and range of excellence by the Indian American Women Empowered, Claremont McKenna College, Ding Ding TV 🇺🇸 Ritu covers breaking news in politics, health and lifestyle.
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