The exhibition, which runs until November, is called The Punjab: Moving Journeys and has been devised following consultation and workshops with different Punjabi community groups in the UK.
These groups included Cartwright Hall Young Ambassadors (Bradford), the Muslim Women’s Welfare Association (Ilford), the North Hertfordshire Sikh Education Council, the Satrangi Group (London), adults and elders from the UK Punjab Heritage Association and the Anglo Sikh Heritage Trail.
The RGS images provide a glimpse of the Punjab province through the ages, capturing the changes brought on by different empires and the impact of internal and external migration.
To help interpret the pictures, the exhibition also makes use of travelogues collected and written by RGS members during the colonial period.
In addition to the RGS photographs and records, during October and November, Rashid Rana and Sophie Ernst will be displaying artwork that explores Partition. Short films under the heading Britain, India, Pakistan will also be shown throughout September.
While many of the images reflect the often brutal and chaotic history resulting from legacies of empire and imperialism, the quality of the photographs and the range of subject matter makes for broad appeal.
