Front Runners

The son of a Sikh farmer from Harpoke, Sohan Singh died a martyr during World World 1.

A French woman pins a flower on Sikh soldiers in Paris.

The son of a Sikh farmer from Harpoke, Sohan Singh died a martyr. Part of the 58th Vaughan’s Rifles, a regiment in Britain’s Indian Army, he served in the Western Front in World War I for over a year before being taken prisoner of war in the Wünsdorf Camp near Berlin. It was here perhaps that he encountered Hermann Struck, a German Jewish artist known for his etchings.

The 22-year-old Indian was to become his subject. The artist had his portraits in his book Prisoners of War. A century later, a lone sketch of his is now on display at Brunei Gallery in London. It is part of an exhibition marking the contribution of Sikh soldiers fighting for the British army in World War I.

“Although accounting for less than one per cent of the population of British India at the time, Sikhs made up nearly 20 per cent of the British Indian Army at the outbreak of hostilities,” says Harbakhsh Grewal, vice-chair at the United Kingdom Punjab Heritage Association (UKPHA), that has organised the exhibition.

He adds that, with the project titled “Empire, Faith & War: The Sikhs and World War One”, the contribution of non-whites in the British army is being celebrated. “The non-white Empire’s efforts have largely been forgotten and their heroism and sacrifices omitted from mainstream narratives, or left as somewhat forlorn footnotes of history… we want to remind the world of this wider undervalued contribution,” says UKPHA chair, Amandeep Madra.

At the core of the three-year-long project are archival photographs ranging from the 15th century to 1918. If, in a 1918 frame, a French lady pins a flower on a Sikh soldier, in a 1915 print, men of the 15th Sikh Regiment are seen with locals in Belgium. There are other images where the contribution of the community is acknowledged more directly — from a 1915 propaganda postcard praising the contribution of Indian soldiers to the Allied cause, to the cover of the The Great War magazine published in 1918, showing men of the 45th Sikhs serving with British troops on the banks of the Tigris River.

British artist Richard Caton Woodville, Jr, has engraved Indian troops charging the German trenches at Neuve Chapelle. Artifacts, including uniforms and gallantry medals, are on display and playing on loop is a rare archive film footage that projects the first Sikh fighter pilot Hardit Singh Malik. Folk songs of wives left home by the soldiers are also printed on a panel.

This is just the first phase of the project though. In the coming months the organisation plans to invite people to share stories of their ancestors who fought in the war. “We’ll link this data to the Imperial War Museum and it’ll live forever,” says Grewal.

Vandana Kalra

Vandana Kalra is an art critic and Deputy Associate Editor with The Indian Express. She has spent more than two decades chronicling arts, culture and everyday life, with modern and contemporary art at the heart of her practice. With a sustained engagement in the arts and a deep understanding of India’s cultural ecosystem, she is regarded as a distinctive and authoritative voice in contemporary art journalism in India. Vandana Kalra's career has unfolded in step with the shifting contours of India’s cultural landscape, from the rise of the Indian art market to the growing prominence of global biennales and fairs. Closely tracking its ebbs and surges, she reports from studios, galleries, museums and exhibition spaces and has covered major Indian and international art fairs, museum exhibitions and biennales, including the Venice Biennale, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Documenta, Islamic Arts Biennale. She has also been invited to cover landmark moments in modern Indian art, including SH Raza’s exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the opening of the MF Husain Museum in Doha, reflecting her long engagement with the legacies of India’s modern masters. Alongside her writing, she applies a keen editorial sensibility, shaping and editing art and cultural coverage into informed, cohesive narratives. Through incisive features, interviews and critical reviews, she brings clarity to complex artistic conversations, foregrounding questions of process, patronage, craft, identity and cultural memory. The Global Art Circuit: She provides extensive coverage of major events like the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Serendipity Arts Festival, and high-profile international auctions. Artist Spotlights: She writes in-depth features on modern masters (like M.F. Husain) and contemporary performance artists (like Marina Abramović). Art and Labor: A recurring theme in her writing is how art reflects the lives of the marginalized, including migrants, farmers, and labourers. Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) Her recent portfolio is dominated by the coverage of the 2025 art season in India: 1. Kochi-Muziris Biennale & Serendipity Arts Festival "At Serendipity Arts Festival, a 'Shark Tank' of sorts for art and crafts startups" (Dec 20, 2025): On how a new incubator is helping artisans pitch products to investors. "Artist Birender Yadav's work gives voice to the migrant self" (Dec 17, 2025): A profile of an artist whose decade-long practice focuses on brick kiln workers. "At Kochi-Muziris Biennale, a farmer’s son from Patiala uses his art to draw attention to Delhi’s polluted air" (Dec 16, 2025). "Kochi Biennale showstopper Marina Abramović, a pioneer in performance art" (Dec 7, 2025): An interview with the world-renowned artist on the power of reinvention. 2. M.F. Husain & Modernism "Inside the new MF Husain Museum in Qatar" (Nov 29, 2025): A three-part series on the opening of Lawh Wa Qalam in Doha, exploring how a 2008 sketch became the architectural core of the museum. "Doha opens Lawh Wa Qalam: Celebrating the modernist's global legacy" (Nov 29, 2025). 3. Art Market & Records "Frida Kahlo sets record for the most expensive work by a female artist" (Nov 21, 2025): On Kahlo's canvas The Dream (The Bed) selling for $54.7 million. "All you need to know about Klimt’s canvas that is now the most expensive modern artwork" (Nov 19, 2025). "What’s special about a $12.1 million gold toilet?" (Nov 19, 2025): A quirky look at a flushable 18-karat gold artwork. 4. Art Education & History "Art as play: How process-driven activities are changing the way children learn art in India" (Nov 23, 2025). "A glimpse of Goa's layered history at Serendipity Arts Festival" (Dec 9, 2025): Exploring historical landmarks as venues for contemporary art. Signature Beats Vandana is known for her investigative approach to the art economy, having recently written about "Who funds the Kochi-Muziris Biennale?" (Dec 11, 2025), detailing the role of "Platinum Benefactors." She also explores the spiritual and geometric aspects of art, as seen in her retrospective on artist Akkitham Narayanan and the history of the Cholamandal Artists' Village (Nov 22, 2025). ... Read More

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