MELBOURNE, 22 September, 2026: A new exhibition exploring memory, migration and the Indian–Australian experience will be inaugurated on Gandhi Jayanti Day, 2 October, and open for visitors in Melbourne’s south-east on 3-4 October, 2026.
Feeling the Unlived: Memories of Bombay (Mumbai) and the Indian–Australian Migrant Experience will be on display at the Australian Indian Community Centre in Rowville on, drawing together rare family photographs, contemporary painting, music and visitor storytelling.
The exhibition centres on 15 photographs of Bombay taken in 1942–43 by a young man, with the images being revisited more than eight decades later through art, sound and personal reflection.
Curated by the Federation University’s Dr Deepa Ram, the exhibition examines the connections between memory, place, migration and belonging, including the emotions passed across generations.
The photographs were taken during a period of significant social and political change in India, including the emergence of the Quit India Movement in Bombay in 1942.
Visitors will be invited to respond to the images through poetry, writing and storytelling, adding their own memories of migration, place and belonging to the evolving exhibition.
Keynote speaker
A. Prof. David Waldron
Historian, Federation University
Contributors
Dr Reshmi Lahiri-Roy, Federation University; Dr Achinto Roy, Deakin University;
Curated by Dr Deepa Ram, Federation University & Music Producer: Poly Varghese
