Taryn Simon: The stories behind the bloodlines

TL;DR

Shivdutt Yadav from Uttar Pradesh, India, discovers official records listing him and his brothers as dead, leading to the loss of their land.

Transcript

This is Shivdutt Yadav, and he's from Uttar Pradesh, India. Now Shivdutt was visiting the local land registry office in Uttar Pradesh, and he discovered that official records were listing him as dead. His land was no longer registered in his name. His brothers, Chandrabhan and Phoolchand, were also listed as dead. Family members had bribed official... Read More

Key Insights

• 💀 Corruption in Uttar Pradesh land registry office: Officials were bribed to declare Shivdutt Yadav and his brothers dead to inherit their ancestral farmland, forcing them to vacate their home. Review cases have been delayed since 2001. (1)
• 🧬 Bloodlines and fate exploration: The artist traveled the world for four years documenting bloodlines and their stories, investigating the role of blood, chance, and circumstance in determining fate. External forces intersect with internal forces of governance, power, religion, and inheritance. (2)
• 🖼️ Triptych structure: Each work is divided into three segments, including systematic ordering of portraits, a scroll-like narrative panel, and a more intuitive, disordered footnote panel. The project examines the clash between the order of bloodlines and the disorder of stories. (3)
• 🌏 Impact of geography: Maps commissioned by the Zionist organization reveal alternative areas for Jewish settlement, prompting reflection on how the world would be different if Israel were located in Uganda. Bloodlines impacted by the consequences of geography. (4)
• 💔 Polygamy and cultural practices: Joseph Nyamwanda Jura Ondijo, a Kenyan healer, has nine wives, 32 children, and 63 grandchildren. Polygamy is widely practiced in Kenya among the privileged class, symbolizing wealth, status, and power. (5)
• 🐇 Impact of introduced species: European rabbits brought to Australia for hunting grew to a population of half a billion, causing competition with native wildlife and land degradation. Australia introduced lethal diseases to control the rabbit population. (6)
• 💔 Effects of genocide in Bosnia: Chapter 7 explores the Srebrenica massacre, where 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were systematically executed. The work visually represents the dead and showcases personal effects found in mass graves. (7)
• 🇨🇳 Control of information in China: A Chinese bloodline representing China was chosen by the State Council Information Office. This office controls external publicity, foreign media, image production, and monitors potentially controversial issues. (8)

Questions & Answers

Q: What happened to Shivdutt Yadav and his brothers at the local land registry office?

Official records at the local land registry office listed Shivdutt Yadav and his brothers as dead. Their land was no longer registered in their name and their family had bribed officials to interrupt the hereditary transfer of land by having them declared dead.

Q: Why did the Yadav family have to vacate their home?

Due to the corruption and the brothers being declared dead, the Yadav family had to vacate their home and no longer had rightful ownership of their ancestral farmland.

Q: How long has the local court been scheduling a case review for the Yadav family since?

The local court has been scheduling a case review for the Yadav family since 2001, but a judge has never appeared.

Q: What is the overall concept behind the project "A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters"?

The project explores the concept of fate and whether it is determined by blood, chance, or circumstance. The artist traveled around the world over a four-year period, researching and recording bloodlines and their related stories to highlight the collision of external forces such as governance and religion with internal forces of psychological and physical inheritance.

Q: How is each work in the project structured?

Each work in the project is comprised of three segments. On the left are portrait panels, systematically ordering the members of a given bloodline. This is followed by a text panel, where the narrative is constructed. Finally, on the right is a footnote panel, presenting fragments of the story in a more disordered and intuitive way, reflecting how we engage with histories and stories on the internet.

Q: How did the population of European rabbits explode in Australia?

Twenty-four European rabbits were brought to Australia in 1859 for hunting purposes. Without any natural predators in Australia, their population grew to half a billion within a hundred years, causing damage to native wildlife and the land.

Q: Why did Haigh's Chocolate replace the Easter Bunny with the Easter Bilby?

Haigh's Chocolate collaborated with the Foundation for Rabbit-Free Australia to promote the Easter Bilby, replacing the Easter Bunny. This was done to counter the celebration of rabbits, which were introduced to Australia and threaten native wildlife. The aim was to make the public more comfortable with the killing of rabbits.

Q: What is the significance of the Srebrenica massacre in Chapter 7?

Chapter 7 focuses on the effects of a genocidal act on one bloodline. The Srebrenica massacre, recorded as the largest mass murder in Europe since the Second World War, resulted in the systematic execution of 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys by Serbian soldiers. The artist visually represents the dead, highlighting the tragedy and its impact on the bloodline.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Shivdutt Yadav and his brothers were declared dead on official records in Uttar Pradesh, India, due to bribery to inherit their father's land.

• The Yadav family has been waiting for a court case review since 2001 but no judge has shown up, reflecting a broader issue of delayed justice in Uttar Pradesh.

• The project "A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters" explores the themes of bloodlines, fate, and the collision between external and internal forces in various stories from around the world.