Lavaan
by Zain Alam


Using the home movies of Sharanjit Singh Dhillonn capturing the life of his interracial family in Oklahoma, musician Zain Alam creates visual connections between the past and present in America.

#wherewebelong

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Zain Alam is a storyteller and musician whose work explores South Asian artistic traditions, transnational movements in the Islamic world, and diasporic identity in the U.S. Learn more at http://www.humeysha.com

In the Archives: Sharanjit Singh Dhillonn was born in 1923 in Karnal, in what is now the northern Indian state of Haryana. In 1955, Sharanjit came to the United States to pursue a master's degree at the University of Oklahoma. In 1958, Sharanjit met his future wife Dorothy, a fellow student two years his junior. Sharanjit and Dorothy were married in Norman, Oklahoma in 1959. Sharanjit was a great lover of film, which is why these unique home movies we're about to see exist today. They were donated to SAADA by Sharanjit's daughter Bibi Dhillonn.

Project Overview: Using the 1959 home movies of Sharanjit Singh Dhillonn capturing the life of his interracial family in Oklahoma, musician Zain Alam creates visual connections between the past and present in America. His music is broken into stylistically distinct parts, each of which explores different aspects of the South Asian American experience across time.

Background on the Oak Creek Gurdwara Massacre: On August 5th, 2012, a white supremacist opened fire inside a gurdwara in Oak Creek, WI, killing six and wounding four. National vigils were held in response, in the U.S. and around the world. Since then, many other Sikhs and South Asians have been the victims of hate crimes in the U.S.

"Where We Belong: Artists in the Archive" has been supported by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

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