In March 2024, The Confluence Collective was honored to present The Sitting Room Studio as part of the group exhibition Legacy Threads in Shillong, Meghalaya. The exhibition explored the significance of family albums and their role in the social and cultural life of the Sikkim-Darjeeling Hills. These albums were more than just collections of photographs—they were powerful symbols of identity, belonging, and community, and served as a central feature of the home’s "sitting room," the space where individuals and families displayed their aspirations, memories, and values.
In the Sikkim-Darjeeling Hills, the family album held a place of great significance, often occupying a prominent position in the "sitting room," the first room visitors would encounter upon entering a home. This room was meticulously maintained, adorned with decorative objects, and designed to be seen and admired. It was a performative space where individuals could express their identities and aspirations. The family albums, carefully placed on center tables or other highly visible spots, were a part of this carefully curated environment. Their positioning wasn’t arbitrary—they were symbols of familial pride, heritage, and legacy, signifying the importance placed on remembering and honoring family history.
The album became a space for self-presentation and a site of worldmaking. Each photograph, carefully selected and preserved, contributed to a larger narrative—one that intertwined personal and collective histories. These albums were not just a collection of images but tools for self-fashioning. The way photographs were displayed, the selection of moments to capture, and the act of sharing them with guests all served to express local agency and cultural identity, creating a space for individuals to reflect their own sense of self as well as their place within the broader socio-cultural landscape of the region.
In The Sitting Room Studio, the exhibition replicated and reflected on the cultural importance of the sitting room and its associated practices. The exhibition space itself was curated to evoke the essence of this communal space, where every object and arrangement carried meaning. Much like the traditional sitting room, the exhibition space became an extension of the home, a place where visitors could engage with the stories held within family albums and their relationship to the wider community.
The photographs, displayed within this context, transcended the role of simple memorialization. They became living artifacts—images that anticipated movement, interpretation, and engagement. Even the most placid and serene photographs were imbued with a sense of dynamism, as if the stories within them were eagerly awaiting to be explored, tugged at, and unraveled. In this way, the photographs from the Hills were not static; they held the promise of new stories, new interpretations, and ongoing conversations about community, identity, and memory.
Photography in the context of the Sitting Room Studio functioned as more than just a documentation of events or family milestones. It was a symbolic act of worldmaking, where personal narratives intersected with collective histories. In the Sikkim-Darjeeling Hills, family albums represented an ongoing dialogue between individuals and their communities. They were reflections of personal efficacies—how individuals chose to represent themselves, their families, and their surroundings—while also serving as a record of the socio-cultural fabric of the time.
The family album was thus a tool for both personal and collective memory, helping to craft a cohesive sense of identity within the broader historical and social context. Each album, with its carefully curated images, played an active role in how communities in the region chose to narrate their past, define their present, and envision their future.
The Sitting Room Studio exhibition was part of the larger group exhibition Legacy Threads, curated by NE Archive. The exhibition aimed to engage with the themes of heritage, memory, and identity, inviting audiences to reflect on how legacy is constructed, preserved, and passed down through generations. The Sitting Room Studio contributed to this broader conversation by highlighting the intimate, personal ways in which family albums served as tools for storytelling and community-building in the Sikkim-Darjeeling Hills.
Visitors to the exhibition were invited to engage with these intimate, private histories through the lens of the sitting room—a space traditionally designed to showcase the best of one’s identity and heritage. The photographs on display not only told stories of families and individuals but also spoke to larger narratives about belonging, community, and the ways in which people engage with and remember their histories.
The Sitting Room Studio exhibition at Legacy Threads provided an insightful and reflective exploration of the role family albums play in shaping and preserving collective memory. It showcased the complex and dynamic relationship between photographs, personal histories, and the communities of the Sikkim-Darjeeling Hills. Through this exhibition, The Confluence Collective invited visitors to reconsider the act of displaying photographs not merely as a form of remembrance but as a deeply symbolic and performative act of worldmaking.
This exhibition not only celebrated the rich history of the Sikkim-Darjeeling Hills but also opened up new ways of thinking about identity, memory, and the role of the family album in shaping cultural legacies. In doing so, it encouraged a broader reflection on how we curate, preserve, and engage with our histories in a rapidly changing world.
We extend our gratitude to NE Archive and the Legacy Threads exhibition for providing a platform to showcase these important narratives and for fostering an environment of reflection and dialogue on heritage and identity.
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