The Sitting Room Studio at Kholey Dai festival

The Sitting Room Studio, presented during the 5th edition of Kholey Dai Festival in Parengtar village, Kalimpong examined the sitting room as a critical domestic and cultural space in the Sikkim–Darjeeling hills. The exhibition approached the sitting room not merely as a private interior, but as a socially produced space where memory, identity, and history are continuously performed and negotiated. By situating the exhibition within a festival context, the project foregrounded the sitting room as a site of public engagement and vernacular historiography.

In the Sikkim–Darjeeling hills region, the sitting room occupies a unique position within the household. Often the first space encountered by visitors, it functions as an interface between the private and the public. Objects displayed within this room family photographs, albums, calendars, framed images, religious artefacts, and ceremonial utensils are carefully selected and arranged, reflecting both personal narratives and broader cultural affiliations. As such, the sitting room operates as a space where social relationships are initiated, maintained, and mediated.

The exhibition extended this spatial function by recontextualising the sitting room within a communal and festival setting. During the Kholey Dai Festival, the exhibition space became a site of sustained interaction, conversation, and storytelling. Visitors did not engage with the exhibition passively; instead, they occupied the space by sitting, talking, revisiting shared memories, and exchanging personal accounts. This mode of engagement underscores the importance of domestic spaces as active social environments that facilitate the circulation of local knowledge.

Central to the exhibition were family photo albums, which were approached as forms of vernacular archives. Albert Biswakarma and Neha Rai from Parengtar village participated in a short photo digitisation workshop conducted by Prashanti Biswakarma, a member of the Collective’s digitisation team. This workshop resulted in the digitisation of ten family photo albums from the village, which were later projected as part of the exhibition. These albums contain visual records of family histories, rituals, migrations, and everyday life, offering insights that are often absent from institutional or state archives.

Displayed within the exhibition, the albums functioned as mnemonic devices, prompting recollection and dialogue among viewers. The act of collectively viewing these images transformed private memories into shared historical narratives. In this way, the exhibition highlighted how domestic photographic practices contribute to the production and preservation of local history, positioning families as active custodians of historical knowledge.

Beyond photographs, the exhibition included everyday objects commonly found in sitting rooms. These materials ceremonial plates, religious sculptures, posters, and decorative items were understood as material witnesses to social and cultural change. Their presence reflected layered histories of migration, religious practice, and cultural exchange in the region.

By foregrounding these objects within an exhibition framework, The Sitting Room Studio emphasised the role of material culture in shaping historical consciousness. The objects enabled conversations across generations, allowing visitors to trace continuities and transformations in social life. This approach situates the sitting room as a micro-archive, where local histories are embedded within everyday domestic practices.

The exhibition functioned not only as a public display but also as a methodological tool. Through informal conversations and sustained presence, the project facilitated the co-production of knowledge between the collective and the community. The festival context further amplified this engagement, as the exhibition attracted both local residents and visitors, expanding the circulation of local histories beyond the village.

The transformation of the sitting room into a contemporary studio allowed for experimentation with how memory is accessed, shared, and reinterpreted. Digitisation played a crucial role in this process, bridging analog domestic archives with new forms of accessibility while remaining grounded in community participation.

The Sitting Room Studio demonstrates the significance of domestic spaces as sites of engagement, memory-making, and historical production. In the context of Parengtar village and the Kholey Dai Festival, the sitting room emerged as a critical locus for articulating local history through everyday objects and photographic practices. By reimagining the sitting room as a shared and performative space, The Confluence Collective’s exhibition contributes to broader discussions on community-led archives, material culture, and the role of domestic spaces in the preservation and transmission of local histories.

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