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A Memorial for the New Economy

Chinar Shah


On the 8th of November 2016, the Government of India demonetised all circulating 500 and 1000 rupee banknotes without warning. This move suddenly invalidated these notes, deeming them unusable in exchange for any goods or service. Instantly, India’s heavily cash dependent economy found itself in an unstable position. In the months following this announcement, over a 100 people died as a consequence.

As a society we quickly memorialise the consequences of human conflict, natural disasters, and even of random acts of violence, but financial collapses and its human toll are often ignored or rendered invisible. Within this context, A Memorial for the New Economy proposes a publication as a memorial - one that is neither a grand proclamation, nor a fixed monument, but instead a document dependent on systems of distribution, access and exchange.


Chinar Shah is an artist, writer, and occasional curator. Her work deals with photography and its implications in moments of violence and conflict. She is the founder of Home Sweet Home - an exhibition series that uses domestic spaces to show works of art - and she taught at the Srishti Institute for Art, Design and Technology between 2014 - 2020 (Bangalore). She is also co-editor of Photography in India: From Archives to Contemporary Practice (Bloomsbury, 2018).
A Memorial for the New Economy 
Chinar Shah


This is a free digital publication. To download, please click on the following links:


A Memorial for the New Economy (200 MB)

A Memorial for the New Economy (500 MB)


This publication is also available as a pdf from Printed Matter and Asia Art Archive.

Exhibition History:
2019 - View India, curated by Niclas Östlind and Niyatee Shinde, at Landskrona Museum (Landskrona, Sweden)


2021 - This Boat with a Broken Rim, curated by Phalguni Guliani, at Mumbai Art Room (Mumbai, India)

2023 - The House Style, curated by C&L Design, at 47-A: Design Gallery (Mumbai, India)

2023 - Kaghazi Pairahan: Publishing and Resistance in South Asia, curated by Akshay Mahajan and Devadeep Gupta, at Double Dummy (Arles, France)