Forgetting (2) is a video reflecting on the relationship between memory, caste, lineage, and the potential generative nature of forgetting after the complicated history/historiography of Indo-Caribbean indentured servitude. Playing with/in the format of the video game walkthrough and pulling from traditional game design tropes like the labyrinth, the inventory system, and the Fog of War, I interview my mother about her shifting relationship to national and cultural identity as an Indo-Caribbean immigrant to America. In tandem, I navigate a 3D labyrinthine space picking up inventory objects that seem initially innocuous but are labeled as “nation,” “caste,” or “lineage.” Never afraid of a grand finale, the video ends with my in-game character forgetting all of these inventory objects and flying out of the labyrinth to the tune of Vashti Bunyan’s “I’d Like to Walk Around Your Mind Someday.”
The work was installed in the Spring 2023 VCUArts Candidacy Exhibition titled What If We Hugged at the JCPenney?
