Nalini Malani is one of the few Indian artists whose work has consistently taken a socio-political trajectory. She interrogates the political dynamics in our lives, not only in the governance of the nation state, but between man, woman, child; the system. She has worked with watercolour and mixed media, collaborated with performance artists, constructed installations, and with the use of video technology, articulated her concerns with power and conviction. Particularly so, in her interpretation of Saadat Hasan Manto’s Partition story, Toba Tek Singh. Born in Karachi, Pakistan, a one-year old Nalini fled with her family during Partition to Bombay where she has since lived, explored, argued, questioned, provoked and claimed position through her works.

“On a cold winter evening buses full of Hindu and Sikh lunatics, accompanied by armed police and officials, began moving out of the Lahore asylum towards Wagah, the dividing line between India and Pakistan.