How can art help us accept a painful past? Join us for the launch of EXHUMATION by Leena Dhingra, with guests Bidisha and Victoria Brittain.
‘This is a story about the ills of the world and the forces that breed them; about what happens to individual lives in the careless grip of geopolitics; a story steeped in sorrow, but glowing with love and faith. A brave story about yesterday that is supremely relevant to us today' AHDAF SOUEIF
On 17th August 1909, Madan Lal Dhingra was executed in Pentonville Prison for the assassination of Sir William Hutt Curzon Wyllie, a high-ranking official from the British India office. Viewed as a murderer in the UK, in India Madan Lal is seen as a great patriot, a freedom fighter, and a martyr. In 1976, his remains were exhumed, and his body returned to India. In Exhumation, Madan Lal’s great niece, the actor and writer Leena Dhingra, unravels and reveals his remarkable story.
Part history, part memoir, this is also the story of Leena’s journey to come to terms with this painful episode from her family’s past. Exhumation: The Life and Death of Madan Lal Dhingra is a compelling story of family secrets that throws light on the dark legacy of colonialism.
The event is presented as a Renaissance One and HopeRoad partnership. It is part of THIS IS WHO WE ARE, a project by and for women of colour as part of the British Council's UK-Australia Season 2021-2022. For more information visit www.renaissanceone.co.uk.
Bios
Leena Dhingra was born in India and came to Europe after the 1947 Partition. She is a writer and actor. Her first novel Amritvela was published in 1988. As an actor, her credits include East is East, The Bill, Prime Suspect, EastEnders, Coronation Street, Casualty, Doctor Who and Ackley Bridge. A Londoner for almost sixty years, Leena Dhingra now lives near Manchester.
Bidisha is a journalist, presenter, broadcaster and film maker. Her latest publication is The Future of Serious Art (2020) and her latest film series, Aurora, launched in 2020. She broadcasts for the BBC, ITN, ViacomCBS and Sky News. Her fifth book, Asylum and Exile: Hidden Voices (2015), is based on her outreach work in UK prisons, refugee charities and detention centres. She is currently presenting the Hello Happiness series for Wellcome Collection.
Victoria Brittain is a respected journalist who tirelessly fought the US government on Guantanamo Bay in articles and books. She has worked as an associate foreign editor of the Guardian. Her work on women and children in conflict has transformed war reporting; subverting tired militaristic narratives. She has been a consultant to the UN on The Impact of Conflict on Women. She is a trustee of Prisoners of Conscience and the author of The Meaning of Waiting (Oberon, 2010), Shadow Lives (Pluto, 2013) and co-author of Moazzam Begg's Enemy Combatant (2007).