In 2010, I was stopped by the Sikkim state police when I wanted to get into Sikkim for an art project. I had to wait at the border town for permission for several days. I got to know only then that, according to the constitutional policy of Sikkim, I am not allowed to cross the border into Sikkim as a Bangladeshi. I could not make it and came back without joining the project in person.

It made me think about the fraught history of the borderline, especially on the North East of India, with its many shifts from McMahon to Radcliffe, and the many disputed areas with its neighbouring countries. As the borderline changed from time to time, people were also forced to move from one place to another, causing havoc in their lives and livelihoods.

I wanted to symbolically convey this fraught history. I did so by cutting up my own collection of currency notes from India’s neighbouring countries – including Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan – and with them, creating a new line drawing of the disputed map.