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The X-Ray
A nation-state’s limits cease at a border with the emergence of another state. It is a stretch of land where countries confront each other. The place is unique when a land demarcated and shared by states has a name - an identity. Where the people of the land fall into the categorical identity. It is a meeting place where local people of different nation-states embrace mobility, at times without legal validity. Here, linguistic identity becomes paramount important to dissolve state identity.
The international border in West Bengal of India separates Bangladesh, and local inhabitants of the Bengal border area have a distinct and different identity not comparable with the rest of India. People share a common culture, language, and customs with a history of being one land partitioned in 1947. Today, people on both sides of the border have families and friends but are foreigners to each other.
For decades, the border region has witnessed the atrocities of Indian border guards whose terror reigns over the people of that area. The unclear identity of the Indian inhabitants of the border zone confounds the security guards with the Bangladeshi people. It is hard to distinguish Indians from Bangladeshis because of their identical physical structure and language. The border guards are from different parts of India whose cultural identity differs from the local history; in their view, every intruder on their territory is a foreigner.
I tried to depict the atrocities using the X-ray plates and the image of the victims. Externally, every victim’s physiological identity is similar to that of people on the other side of the border. It is hard to determine a person’s nationality by viewing an X-ray plate. The failure to understand a person’s true identity frustrates Indian security guards and motivates them to kill. They always think that the locals are of foreign origin and that the mistaken identity they believe causes pain and suffering to the local people in the border area. To outsiders, it can baffle the appearance of the way the security personnel mistook Indians for Bangladeshis. Linguistic identity overpowers the nationality factor and is a cause of concern to the border area people. The inability of the Indian state to control the security forces results in hundreds of innocent people dying each year at the border of both countries, and that is continuing, whereas the security forces enjoy impunity.
