Capturing the Guerilla Fighter: Mrinal Sen, from Archive to Exhibition

The article discusses the conceptualisation, execution and reception of the exhibition that was curated to celebrate the birth centenary of Mrinal Sen at The University of Chicago in November 2023. This article addresses the archival and curatorial work that went into the making of the exhibition by bringing together a host of print and other visual media. Divided into three segments – understanding the cataloguing and classificatory logic of the Mrinal Sen archive located at the Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center in the Regenstein Library, the politics and rationale of selecting the objects for display and negotiating the logistics of creating an exhibition space out of an otherwise ordinary lecture hall – the presentation unpacks the constitutive elements of exhibition making. What are the choices that go into (re)presenting a film director from the Global South in the context of a private University in the Global North? What is the work that objects preserved in an archive are made to do individually as well as in relation to other displayed objects? How do logistical considerations of display cases, lighting, dimensions of the allotted space and infrastructural facilities become constitutive of the very logic of the exhibition? By working at the intersection of archival research, aesthetics and politics of curation, and improvisational practices, the article not only delves into aspects of exhibiting the craftsmanship of Mrinal Sen to an un/initiated audience but also highlights how knowledge on postcolonial India is produced across media – scripts, photographs, magazine articles, personal letters, awards – through the very process of designing an exhibition.