'I don’t want the news, give me music,’ a 2022 poem by Angus Guite, echoes the yearning for a home resonating with music and poetry, away from the city’s bustle, yet seeking to harmonise with both realms. This poignant piece is part of ‘Lengkhawm: Lamka Remembered’, an art exhibition curated by the collective 'This is Lamka' in collaboration with India International Centre, Delhi. It showcases the history, culture, and creativity of Lamka, a town in Manipur, home to over nine Zo tribes; Zos are one of the ethnic groups spread across India, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
The exhibition’s title ‘Lengkhawm’ refers to a Zo singing tradition performed to the rhythms of a ‘khuang’ ritual drum, marking moments of mourning, celebration, and Christian worship. Lengkhawm symbolises the enduring Zo identity and collective resilience in the face of recent socio-political challenges. Inspired by these rich musical and visual traditions, the exhibition is an attempt by the Zo youth to depict everyday life in Lamka, transcending tribal stereotypes.
An aspirational town
Through the works of more than a hundred young artists, designers, and writers from Lamka, the exhibition reveals Zo culture to audiences in Delhi through traditionally woven puan, photography, literature, digital illustrations, and songs of remembrance. “The collective started as a grassroots digital archiving project to preserve the visual histories of the Zo ethnic tribes. We went door to door in Lamka to collect images, stories, and objects. In 2021, we had our first exhibition supported by a grant from the British Council, and it later travelled to other cities, including Shillong. We felt the need for a bigger platform, and that is why we are here in Delhi,” says John Simte, a member of 'This is Lamka'.
Lamka, nestled in the basin of the Tuitha river, is the local name for Churachandpur, an administrative district in Manipur. “Churachandpur is a Meitei-given name after a Meitei king who once visited the place, but since it is home to many tribal people, Lamka, which signifies crossroads, is the popular local name,” says Shazia, a member of the collective, during the walkthrough. Much like the decision to hold onto their Zo identity through the name Lamka, the exhibition has sought to assert an alternative vocabulary for tribals, “breaking away from representation as only folk dancers or artefacts stuck in time”, says Simte.
At the beginning of the exhibition is an image of a red building called Mission Compound, which has been the heart of Lamka. “This was where education and schools first started, and it was also where the British stayed for a long time,” says Shazia. Although a remote town home largely to tribals, people here had been venturing out for education even in the ’60s and the ’70s. A black-and-white image beside Mission Compound shows a young boy leaving for the hostel with his luggage. Archival photos depict women birdwatching with binoculars and even images from a woman’s fashion show from the ’80s, challenging stereotypes of tribal identity.
Personal identity
Assertion of alternative identity is not just happening at the community level but is also evident in contemporary artworks by individual Zos who have moved to cities such as Delhi for education and work. Hoijoukim Khongsai, one of the displayed artists, has created a series of mixed media collages with photographs dedicated to her parents for their sacrifices, and to honour her grandfather with whom she could not form a close relationship because of being away in Delhi.
This section of the exhibit showcases modern stories of loss, nostalgia for the family home in the hills, and a search for personal identity within the collective.
Objects from everyday life, townscapes of Lamka, and contemporary digital renderings of places, things, ideas, and people are displayed in the next section. These include AI-generated stamps of Zoland, hand-drawn illustrations of household utensils, illustrations of popular streets, and a striking artwork by Chingpiri in honour of Thothong, remembered as Lamka’s first crossdresser.
“In Lamka, everyone knows everyone well. I can even tell which music will play if I go into a particular lane. Seeing some of these images makes me hear the music that used to come from those streets. For instance, I can recognise from this photo who lived on that street and what kind of music they liked—heavy metal, rock, or country,” says Mrs Mung Hanghal, who has been living in Delhi for the past 25 years and who spotted an old photo of her parents’ wedding at the exhibition.
Bonding over songs, poetry
Music is a thread that binds the people of Lamka in many ways. “Active church choirs are not the only reason music culture is so popular here; another important factor is that music combines our cultures. The nine tribes in Lamka, although they have different dialects, share close linguistic affinities. So, a popular song will be popular across all tribes,” says Simte. The exhibit features a collection of old cassette covers, archival photos of local musicians, and bands, even including a ’70s women’s rock band from Mizoram. There is also an audio-visual section where visitors can hear songs of mourning and celebration from Lamka.
“We have never had an experience like this before, I mean an exhibition for us and our hometown,” says Mrs Valte and Mrs Vualnam, visitors at the exhibition. Delhi’s understanding of Manipur is limited to visuals in the news, spectacles of the state’s folk dance during Republic Day parades, or symbolic cultural items available for consumption in places like Dilli Haat. ‘Lamka Remembered’ seeks to undo these fixed ideas of tribal identity while opening up alternative spaces of remembrance and healing for a community and a nation that is still grieving the ethnic violence, which broke out in Manipur last year. They have attempted to gently activate intimate circuits of family album records, using these socio-personal documents for public dissemination of knowledge and reimagining the intangible act of seeing without undertones of othering.
‘Lenghawm: Lamka Remembered’ is on till August 22 at Kamaladevi Complex, India International Centre