While Canada-based artist Jagdeep Raina has only visited India once as a teenager in 2005, his family held their roots here for generations, being forced to flee from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in 1947 after facing the trauma of violence during the country’s Independence. And, like every family that was displaced during the unstable political and communal climate at the time, they had to find a new country to call a safer home.

“The memories our grandparents have of the time are horrifying; and there’s a sense of historical amnesia because it’s barely ever discussed. There’s also a silent solidarity in grief amongst the community at large,” he explains when describing his own curiosity and urgency in wanting to collect and document these stories before they die out with the older generation. Similarly, UK-based artist Hardeep Pandhal plumbs into the recurrent problems of historical repetition, delving into the social gore of racial violence and disturbing cultural traditions. His Punjabi gothic artworks embrace moments of historical topsy-turviness, playful sensibility and constructive acculturation.