Glasgow School of Art
Graduates: 2024
Specialisms: Storytelling / Illustration / Creative Direction
My location: Glasgow, United Kingdom
First Name: Bhavani
Last Name: Balasubramanyam
University / College: Glasgow School of Art
Course / Program: mdes communication design
Graduates: 2024
Specialisms: Storytelling / Illustration / Creative Direction
My Location: Glasgow, United Kingdom
Website: Click To See Website
Ghost Trains speaks about the violence that ensued during the Partition of India in 1947, after 200 years of British colonial rule. There were communal riots all over the country – but in particular on the trains that carried refugees across the borders. These “Ghost Trains” would leave their place of origin packed with people squeezed into compartments or sitting on the roof, but would arrive at their destination full of corpses, silent and bloody. This historical event shaped generations to come and isn’t often talked about outside of our own South Asian education. I wanted to emphasise the sheer scale of the people who were killed during Partition on these trains and also play up the sooty, coal-like, harrowing nature of the whole experience. These prints are screen-printed with charcoal and overlaid with linocut stamps.