SHELTERED: The Italians who saved the lives of escaped Indian Prisoners of War during World War II

SHELTERED, illuminates the inspiring history of Italian families in Abruzzo, living under German occupation, who risked their lives to shelter escaped Indian Prisoners of War during World War II despite differences in appearance, culture, and language. These acts of humanity occurred in occupied Italy of Italian civilian resistance on behalf of colonized Indian soldiers.

SHELTERED recovers this history through photographs, oral history, and video installations. By collaborating with descendants of this history, both the Italian families and the Indian soldiers, I have gathered family photographs and projected them onto the walls, doorways, homes, and streets of these Abruzzese towns. Thus, allowing the sites themselves to hold the memory that the traditional archives never recorded. The resulting haunting photographs demonstrate how artwork can act as a catalyst for cross-cultural connection and raise public awareness of neglected histories often left out of the traditional archive.

SHELTERED asks what it means that some of the most significant acts of moral agency in this history were made by individuals with nothing to gain and everything to lose and transcends cultural and national boundaries. This story gives one hope in humanity.

Click here to see a clip of the accompanying video