1528 and the Malom Massacre: The Making of a Photobook with Rohit Saha
Rohit Saha’s first photobook 1528 took shape as a project he pursued as a student at the National Institute of Design (NID) and eventually turned into long-term research. The first edition of the book, 1528 was funded and published by the Alkazi Foundation for the Arts: Photobook Grant 2017.
In 2016, Saha arrived in Manipur after hearing about Irom Sharmila breaking her sixteen-year-long hunger strike. The Malom Massacre of November 2000—where ten civilians were allegedly gunned down by the 8th Assam Rifles at Malom Makha Leikai near Imphal—had prompted Sharmila’s prolonged protest against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). The AFSPA, a parliamentary act used in areas in India where militancy still prevails, gives the armed forces sweeping powers to open fire, arrest individuals without warrant and search premises without warrant. Furthermore, the act lends blanket impunity to the armed forces; no prosecution or legal proceedings can be made against them without the approval of the Centre.
On 18 October 2016, after witnessing Sharmila announce her political party—People’s Resurgence and Justice Alliance (PRAJA)—Saha met a journalist who directed him to volunteer for the organisation Extra-Judicial Execution Victim Families Association Manipur (EEVFAM). During the time Saha was writing and digitising the files at EEVFAM, he came across records that revealed details of thirty-three years of extra-judicial killings. Shocked by the expanse of time over which a single massacre had occurred, Saha began to dig deeper.
In this interview, Saha speaks about his journey into the EEVFAM archives along with how he went about recording photographs, collecting data and the way his own practice shaped into creating a photobook that references the files and case studies of the Malom Massacre. Friends and local voices make their way into this narrative as an integral part of Manipur’s landscape the artist was documenting in response to his daily activities and findings. The interview wraps up with an insight into Saha’s ongoing collaborative project with three friends—Bazik Thlana, Athoiba Soubam and Nongpok Arambam. The work attempts to examine the many incidents of abuse of human rights during Operation Bluebird, a brutal counter-insurgency operation launched by paramilitary forces on 9 July 1987 on the inhabitants of the village of Oinam in Manipur.
(Featured Image: 1528, Rohit Saha. Image courtesy of the artist.)
Recorded on 30 June 2021.
