S.1 Episode 6 // Some Histories Are Not Beautiful: ​Shwarga Bhattacharjee + Hakimah Abdul-Fattah

On Creation ● ​On Beauty & Violence ● On Connection

 Shwarga Bhattacharjee is an artist based in North Philadelphia. Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Shwarga moved to the U.S. in 2014. He received an MFA from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University and a BFA in drawing and painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dhaka University. Shwarga’s work draws from the duality of experiences as an immigrant. His work references social historical and political events in the Americas and South Asia. Hakimah Abdul-Fattah interviewed Shwarga in late February 2022 as his first solo exhibition entitled Excavation Paths was wrapping up at Twelve Gates Arts in Philadelphia. The exhibition Shwarga Bhattacharjee: Excavation Pathswas curated by Tausif Noor. In this episode we discuss Shwarga's creative process, chaos and beauty, the colonial history of South Asia and his friendship with Tausif. 

This season was produced in connection to 2023 exhibit, "Rising Sun: Artists in an Uncertain America", an AAMP and PAFA collaboration curated by Dejay Duckett (AAMP), Judith Tannenbaum (PAFA), Mekhala Signal (PAFA), Michael Wilson (AAMP). This exhibit brings together 20 artists to respond to the question: Is the sun rising or setting on the experiment of American democracy? The exhibit runs March 23 through Oct 8 of 2023 at the Historic Landmark Building in Philadelphia. 

For episode extras, and to learn more about the artists, hosts, and organizations involved, check out the Reckoning and Repair website: rnrphilly.com

Reckoning and Repair is part multimedia counter-archive, part laboratory, for telling stories and listening to stories in cities. Each season traces stories of resistance to (and repair from) the enduring and specific legacies of exclusion/withholding/erasure that haunt our cities. Through immersive oral histories and collaborative storytelling, student scholars, activists, and creatives illuminate the slow, difficult, yet vital work of accountability and healing in haunted worlds. The project is directed by Dr. Alissa Jordan at the Center for Experimental Ethnography at the University of Pennyslvania. ​