Nawal Ali Watali

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA will explore the political and cultural history of the Shina and Dard communities in Gurez, situating them within the larger sociopolitical history of Jammu and Kashmir through the lens of collective memories and identities. Nawal Ali Watali is the Coordinator for this project. 

Nawal Ali Watali is a researcher and photographer based in Kashmir. Her research interests include analysing human security amidst state violence in Kashmir, specifically in areas around the Line of Control. As a photographer, she often responds to issues she engages with during her research, exploring them through the lens of memory. She is interested in both personal and long-form visual storytelling formats. She co-founded the women photographers collective Her Pixel Story in Kashmir. She reports on various political and social issues in Kashmir. Her essays have been published in The Caravan, Al Jazeera, Adi Magazine, and Polis Project. Currently, Nawal is working for an art magazine, CuratorMag and with the Other Sisters Project. Being based in Kashmir with a keen interest in marginalised histories makes Nawal a suitable Coordinator for this project. 

The project intends to chronicle the unique aspects of Gurezi culture and its political history vis-a-vis mainland Kashmir. It will explore how, despite the overwhelming interference of different factors such as militarisation, environmental degradation due to hydropower projects, and cultural assimilation with mainstream Kashmir, the Gurezi culture has retained its uniqueness in terms of linguistic, societal and historical markers.

After the creation of Jammu and Kashmir as a semi-autonomous state of India, Gurez became somewhat isolated from the rest of the region and the larger world due to adverse climatic conditions. However, it was not wholly detached from the political instability and conflict that became a characteristic of Kashmir’s environment. While Gurez has been at the receiving end of this conflict at several levels including heavy militarisation, cross-border violence, and environmental and social impacts associated with hydropower projects, it has not been in alignment with the political or cultural landscape of Kashmir. 

Over the last three decades, Gurez has faced gradual cultural erosion due to a host of factors that include the migration of native people from Gurez towards the Kashmir Valley, attempts by people to fit themselves into the dominant Kashmiri culture and the neglect of the Shina language in school education. This project will study the cultural and political landscape of Gurez through the narratives of local people to trace the shaping of cultural and political identities against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict in the region. It will also explore how the people of Gurez have preserved the memories of the past and traditional knowledge systems, and how they make sense of the present onslaught of change, predominantly dictated by the dense militarisation and statist policies. 

The project will approach the narratives of the people through a multidisciplinary approach to understand both the ways in which the people of Gurez see themselves vis-à-vis Kashmir and Kashmiris relate to Gurez. The outcomes of this project will be a photo book and an exhibition. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be the photo book and audiovisual documentation from the field.

This project suitably addresses the framework of IFA’s Arts Research programme in the manner in which it attempts to explore the ignored political and cultural history of the Shina and Dard communities of Gurez in the context of the dominant mainstream Kahsmiri culture. 

IFA will ensure that the project is implemented on time and the funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is complete and deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with the Trustees.

This project is made possible with support from BNP Paribas India.