Out of ashes and absence, new meanings emerge. Rooted in research on attacked libraries National Library of Cambodia and The University Library of Leuven, weave together fragmented histories, inviting viewers to engage, reflect, and construct new meanings. Mansha Chhatwal translates her research into drawings of stories patched together from disparate sources, deliberately leaving room for others yet to emerge. The incorporation of ashes from burned books becomes a visceral reminder of the devastating erasure of knowledge wrought by civil war. In reassembling the forgotten traces of history, the artist invites us to immerse, to sift, and perhaps to begin the slow act of knowing, caring, and understanding mankind.
