Devadeep Gupta
Found in the archives of Assam Railways and Trading Company Limited, the letter is believed to have been written by Chevalier Roberto Paganini, an Italian engineer who was invited by the British company-men to design and construct the railway lines and colliery-infrastructure in Makum, Assam in 1881. The letter sheds light on the micro, personal aspect of a colonial extractive enterprise, of which we learn mostly through statistics and infrastructural perspectives in postmodern times in context of the Indian subcontinent. The ART company operated in Makum from 1886 till 1950s, till the company’s departure post national independence and subsequently transformed into what we know as Coal India Limited today.
Somewhen in the late 1880s, the indigenous hamlet of Makum was rechristened into Margherita by Chevalier Roberto Paganini, upon the completion of his tasks, as an honor to the queen Margherita Maria Teresa Giovanna of Italy (1851-1926). Interestingly, a year prior to the arrival of Paganini in Makum, pizza Margherita was ‘invented’ by a local chef in Napoli, using the colors of the Italian flag reflected in the ingredients, unsurprisingly, to honor the visit of Queen Margherita to Napoli during her reign.
Accompanying the letter is a scan of an tin-type image, believed to be made by one officer of the ART company, who was accompanying Chevalier Paganini. Through a collage of images, generated using AI, I try to illustrate the visions of Paganini, the merging of industrial metal and the primeval jungle.
The above is part of a larger ongoing project to create a contra-archive, a point of personal orientation and accountability for the Company.
Devadeep Gupta is an interdisciplinary artist, whose work explores the relational nuances between people and their land. Engaging with localized practices, he critically examines mainstream perspectives and institutional interventions. Devadeep lives and practices in Assam.
Ptenopus 