Lauren McCartney & Gulmehar Jilani

Lauren-Louise McCartney and Gulmehar Jilani started a collaboration in their third year of University. In their respective practices both focused on their background and story telling in their culture. The project that emerged between them was based around finding the links between colonialism, partition and their family stories in Pakistan and Northern Ireland.  

After being awarded the Bartlett Travel fund, to visit both Pakistan and Northern Ireland, and considering the materials gathered, their focused turned to their relationship with said stories and the effects of trans-generational trauma.

The Degree Show proposal was to create an immersive atmosphere and make the film as a moving collage within a larger installation. Which would include photographs, objects, writing and cultural memorabilia. 

Due to the pandemic they had to revaluation the project. Through this shift, ‘The Partition Archives’ were created. This is an online space of personal stories in a plethora of mediums curated by the two of them.

This is an ongoing project while the two artists still continue their respective practises.