Cups of Nun Chai

Cups of Nun Chai
Cups of Nun Chai

Cups of Nun Chai

A search for meaning in the face of something so brutal it appears absurd. An absurd gesture when meaning itself becomes too much to bear.


The sharing of a cup of nun chai, of salted tea, is a common everyday practice in Kashmir. Alana Hunt, artist and writer, used this simple gesture to start a set of conversations, in Australia, in India and finally, in Kashmir. Each cup marks the one hundred and eighteen civilians who were killed in the protests that roiled the Kashmir valley during the summer of 2010. Each cup of tea was photographed, and the conversation around it written up from memory.


In these exchanges the political unfolds through a profoundly personal experience, and events, places and sentiments that are often obscured from view are given breathing space. People, homes, memory—and flavour—combine to make tangible what so many outside Kashmir do not know.


This is an archive of small moments, marking each loss and moving against the normalisation of political violence and death. Spanning the spheres of contemporary art, literature, social-science and journalism, Cups of nun chai is a poignant act of memorialisation—a means of remembering, reading and reminding.


Adroit, and shot through with an extraordinary, even stubborn, compassion, it reflects on Kashmir, but also on nation-making and colonisation, and on power and violence. The histories, political forces and grief behind this work emerge gradually, but with great sensitivity. And eventually with an unexpected degree of ferocity.

  • Secure payments
  • Low stock - 2 items left
  • Inventory on the way
Regular price Dhs. 240.00
/
Tax included.

All orders are shipped within 12-48 hours of orders being placed.
Shipping takes about 1-2 days within UAE. International shipping may take additional 3-10 working days.

This site is protected by hCaptcha and the hCaptcha Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

More from SHOP
Photography from Yemen
Dhs. 210.00
Candido 800
Dhs. 60.00
Candido 400
Dhs. 60.00
Candido 200
Dhs. 60.00
Polaroid AutoFocus Land SX-70
Dhs. 1,800.00
how shall we greet the sun
Dhs. 150.00
Recently viewed