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Index of the Disappeared | 2004 onwards Chitra Ganesh + Mariam Ghani have collaborated since 2004 on the project Index of the Disappeared, which is both a physical archive of post-9/11 disappearances and a mobile platform for public dialogue. As an archive, Index of the Disappeared foregrounds the difficult histories of immigrant, 'Other' and dissenting communities in the U.S. since 9/11. Through official documents, secondary literature, and personal narratives, the Index archive traces the ways in which censorship and data blackouts are part of a discursive shift to secrecy that allows for disappearances, deportations, renditions and detentions on an unprecedented scale. The Index builds up its collection by collaborating with others actively engaged in political and legal challenges to the policies we track, and draws on radical archival, legal and activist traditions to select, group, and arrange information. As a platform, the Index presents discussions on ideas and issues related to the materials it archives, and draws upon materials in the archive to create text based, site-specific works installed in a range of physical and virtual spaces, including galleries, museums, universities, community centers, libraries, conferences, publications, windows, the street, the web, and the mail. These visual and discursive forms of public dialogue are designed to confront audiences with the human costs of public policies, challenging them to re-consider the abstractions of political debate in specific, individual terms. |
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1. Codes of Conduct | September 2008 | Mixed Site Specific installation produced from Creative Time's Decmocracy in America at he Park Avenue Armory. Sound loop, slide projection, & expanded selection of Index archive documents visualize suppressed military narratives. Documents focus on secret and public prisons central to redefining key military terms and practices including "enemy," "combatant," "cruel and inhuman treatment," and the codes of conduct embodied in the Army Field Manual and Geneva Conventions. Slides and sound illuminate individual case histories of detention, rendition, torture, death and disappearance, including current Guantanamo detainees and former "ghost prisoners," to suggest connections between military violence abroad and the loss of civil liberties at home. See Detail. |
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2. Art in General | August 16 – November 9, 2007 | Index Library, UBS Gallery See Zine. |
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| 3. Exit Art | August 4 - Sept 6, 2007 | Installation views of Index of the Disappeared, site specific installation for Sultana's Dream at Exit Art, NY |
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4. Rotunda Gallery | January - March 2007 | site-specific installation at the Rotunda Gallery for the show Spectral Evidence Installation views (entryway and back hallway) : Dimensions: c. 31” w x 53” h (entryway text field); c. 4’ w (back hallway). |
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| 5. Roebling Hall | April - May 2006 | site-specific installation at Roebling Hall for the show If a cat gives birth to kittens in an oven, are they kittens or biscuits? Installation views (wide shot and one detail) : Wall drawing (ink, acrylic, spray paint) text (pipe cleaners and broken glass) and table featuring related selections from the Disappeared archive. Wall dimensions: 10’ w x 13.4’ h. Note: Arabic text translates to “No human being is illegal.” |
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6. LMCC | October - November 2005 |site-specific installation at LMCC’s 15 Nassau gallery space for the show After Effects |
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7. White Box | 2004 | Seeing the Disappeared, drawing and video installation, White Box, NY. See Detail. |
