The chronological order of history took on a new dimension of critical inquiry with the onset of the discipline of postcolonialism in the 1970s. Against the umbrella avowal of the dominant linear progression, the linear narrative was put to a charged furnace of debate by academia of the 1970s only to transmute it into a form of a circuit that distances itself from the haunting effects of anachronic time. In his work Languages of Time in Postcolonial Memory, Nigerian philosopher Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze investigates the suspended histories of people through the lens of fiction, aiming to strip away the veneer of monolithic meaning imposed by the synchronised flow of time. Fiction, instrumental in recognising the mechanism of fractured time, facilitates the transition from a unitary truth to the collection of personal experiences. Fiction, in the form of an art exhibition, Specters, Specimens and Ships in Doubt, by Sahil Naik at Experimenter in Kolkata, opens a world where histories overlap to talk about interconnections across temporal and spatial axes. 

For someone who grew up in Goa, a Portuguese colony until 1961, Naik has inherited a history defined by multiple empires. Four events—The Portuguese fleet gazing upon the Gulmohars in Madagascar; the Gujarati Gainda (rhino) embarking on a journey from Goa to Europe as a present for the pope; Yuri Gagarin achieving the milestone of being the debutant in the outer space; and the devastating fire that ravaged the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) in New Delhi in 2016—set the exhibition into motion. “I am interested in non-linear, simultaneous and sometimes time-travel between events. And that is the format of the exhibition here—which is also a small isolated essay from my larger research around monuments, mausoleums, memorials and modernism,” stated Naik in an interview with STIR.

The exhibition delves into what Naik terms as, "peripheral inquiries, free-falling through anecdotes, encounters, and episodes.” For instance, the well-placed seven dioramas—an emulsion on paper and sculpted landscapes encased within custom handmade cabinets—are an "exaggerated artistic imagination," to borrow Naik’s words, that create miniature ecosystems. Dioramas, destroyed during the fire at NMNH, were also found across the museums in Delhi, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, and Baroda, produced by local artists to recreate scenes of natural abundance. Naik reconstructs these dioramas by "(collecting) evidence, speculation, rumours, and warm anecdotes" through his visits to the museums aforementioned. This approach aims to redefine the museum beyond the decision of the state as to what to "museumise"—underlining the acts of omissions, marginalisation and erasures.

The coming together of NMNH and fire, which eventually destroyed the original infrastructure, mentions Naik, "led me to think about colonisation and non-alignment, the times when the museum was born. The rhino that stood in the foyer of the Natural History Museum is not very different to the rhino from Cambay that was gifted to the Pope by the Portuguese king. The latter drowned in a storm, and was retrieved and stuffed with hay, making it the first taxidermied rhino in some sense. These two rhinos across time, place and political intentions became a sort of narrative device to recalibrate these histories through stories.”

Central to the exhibition is the film Karkadann of Land and the Dark Seas with the overarching theme of the history of political gifts. Commissioned by TBA 21 and Art Encounters Biennale in Timisoara, the piece incorporates images of landscapes, historical monuments and rituals that Naik shot, along with objects and scenographies of natural history, historic figures and artefacts that were crafted or discovered. It includes the introduction of the gulmohar in India as an offering to Mother Mary. The 'gift' of space opportunities bestowed by Russia upon India and other nations in the Global South is highlighted in the series Yuri Gagarin watches over the space aspirations of the Third World. These archival prints on paper when framed individually, but installed together to form a cluster, bestow an overpowering view of the various instruments and tools which make the journey in space a possibility. The single units of a mechanical machine when assembled collectively build the structure of the whole spaceship. Subsequently, to give a holistic view of the space, facing this wall is the series Ships in Doubt, Pursuits, Politics and the Promise of outer space. The box framed artworks, placed at a distance, are a reminder of science fiction comic strips. The artworks—gouache on paper—are the scenes extracted from the space populated with spaceships, they underline the acceleration with which spaceships shoot into the outer world from the earth.

The different rooms of the Experimenter serve as the ideal home to talk about a variety of historical events and to forge a link between ostensibly disparate elements: be it Diaromas; Karkadann of Land and the Dark Seas; Yuri Gagarin watches over the space aspirations of the Third World; or Ships in doubt, pursuits, politics and the promise of outer space—the mediums are crucial in understanding the exhibition in its entirety. "In essence, it is a composition of various mediums and a reflection of diverse histories. I believe there are two approaches to interacting with these histories: one can either embrace intimacy or take a step back to perceive the broader picture,” adds Naik. For him, it is crucial to ask, "How can these objects and specimens take us on journeys and encounters of histories that were never deemed relevant enough to be recognised by the state through the museum? I think to me an exhibition is always a set of questions—I am not interested in fixity. I would like to create sites of encounter through which audiences can engage, witness and draw conclusions from, even if speculative.”

Born out of an urge against the perpetuation of the many forms of domination and exploitation, the exhibition Specters, Specimens and Ships in Doubt by Naik has dual takeaways—empathy and awareness. The artist lucidly mentions, “Empathy of those systems of violence consumed and erased and an awareness of how we have always played into the state's agenda of groomed as modern, ‘cultured’ citizens amongst other stories.” 

Specters, Specimens and Ships in Doubt is on view until January 6, 2024, at Experimenter, Ballygunge Place, Kolkata.