FREMONT, CA, USA—Gurdwara Sahib Fremont will be hosting an art exhibition on Saturday and Sunday, May 7-8 2016, inspired by Bapu Surat Singh Khalsa’s ongoing hunger strike. Bapu Surat Singh is 83 years old and from Lathrop, California. He has been on hunger proest in Punjab since January 16, 2015, to call for the release of Sikh political prisoners. He has been forcefully detained at hospitals for more than half that time, subjected to force feeding by the Indian Government and police.
The idea for an art exhibition to raise awareness for Bapu Surat Singh’s hunger strike first originated in the UK. The first exhibition took place in January 2016 at Guru Nanak Gurdwara Smethwick, West Midlands, UK. The second showing included an exhibition at Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara in Bristol, UK. Curator of the Bristol exhibition, Dr. Manjit Kaur Dhinsa, said, “This has been a grass roots campaign, and the contributions we have had from artists and poets have been humbling. We have had work from around the world, including the USA, Canada, India and Russia.”
UK based artist Jyoti Dhanjal from Hertfordshire said he found out about the human rights campaign after seeing images of Bapu Surat Singh on social media, “I wanted to help his campaign using the following I have on social media. I did a painting based on one of the photos which I thought was very powerful. The strain of his hunger strike shows on his face.”
The exhibition has now made its way to the U.S., with its first showing scheduled for May 7-8, 2016, 11am-6pm at Gurdwara Sahib Fremont in Fremont, California. The event is free and open to the public.
Event Details
Date: May 7-8, 2016
Time: 11am-6pm, Saturday and Sunday
Location: Gurdwara Sahib Fremont, 300 Gurdwara Rd, Fremont, CA 94536
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