Baptist Coelho

During the residency, Baptist Coelho will turn his focus to the history of the Indian National Army (INA) and the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, two military units created in Singapore respectively in 1942 and 1943. During the Japanese occupation of Singapore, almost 20,000 Indian prisoners-of-war were instigated by their Japanese captors to create the INA with the goal to free India from British colonial rule. This short-lived military formation, which was disbanded in 1945, also included the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, one of the very few all-female combat units developed during the Second World War. Coelho aims to trace back patterns of everyday life at a time of war and delve into the reasons that drove INA women, most of who had never set foot in India, to fight for the country’s independence. Continuing his extensive research on the psychological and physical disruptions caused by war and conflict, the artist will critically interweave personal memories, historic accounts, and archival records laying out the groundwork for the production of a new work.