The Museum of Questions was initiated keeping in mind the changes taking place in the Bastar region of south central Chattisgarh in India, and emerges from a series of dialogues between me and the students of the Saathi School, Kumharpara and the Imlee Mahuaa School, Balengapara. The museum is housed within boxes, and takes the form of drawings, writings and objects collected by the children that in different ways document the future of various objects, processes and traditions from their everyday life. The museum exists also in the act of dialogue, and doesn’t have a final form or goal, but is constantly evolving and adapting. 

The villages of this region don’t have a formal written history, and with the closing of the ghotuls (local schooling system), and the changes in the haats (weekly market places), the lifestyle of the villagers is being significantly altered. The museum being situated within the schools, offers a space for children to reflect on their culture and to think about the future of history in their settlements.

Initiated in 2018, the museum also contains an archive of local architecture. There were no thematic limits, and these questions that the museum houses, I feel, have significant historic and personal value, as they reflect on the transition that the children are witnessing in their villages. The children have begun answering their own questions, and the collection of questions and imagined futures continues to grow.