(Work by Banksy in Gaza)
Art is the
child of its circumstances. Art could happen in isolation but the resultant
work is always a product of its own physical and intellectual environments.
Sometimes, art tend to hide its real intentions in order divert the attention
of the authorities or resort to some other methods of expression so that the
censors find them passable, harmless and innocent. Such clever display of
harmlessness, when passed through time sheds its hood and show the real face.
It becomes an object with telltale evidences of the time in which it was born.
It also tells the story of the artist who has caused it. It is irrelevant whether
the artist has left some journals and anecdotes in order to connect the dots or
not. Whatever unsaid in art is chiseled out by time, if someone in that
projected time takes interest in the said piece of art object.
A question
sent by one of my Facebook friends caused this preamble. He asked, requesting anonymity,
why artists from Kerala and elsewhere have not yet responded to the Gaza War
through their works. Yes, in such events that shake up human conscience artists,
irrespective of their land of origin find seeds for their art. They react to it
the way Picasso had reacted to the bombing at the Basque town of Cadacaus.
Picasso’s response is now in everybody’s mind and it is called ‘Guernica’. It
has become such a landmark work that ever since the artists from world over
when they responded to an atrocity or calamity, extracted symbols from this
huge painting and employed them in their works to express their angst. But
Picasso is now seen as a ‘modernist’ whose grand narratives existed within certain
intellectual monoliths, in other words, it is old, odd and stereotypical.
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Whenever
there is a crisis in the world that brought humans to despicable states of
existence and several innocent lives are lost for no reason of their own, the
abjection and revulsion that the artists feel in their minds come out as works
of art which is generally called protest art. Sometimes protest art register a
protest and sometimes they invite world’s attention to the crisis. The more is
the fame of the artist the more is the traction of his or her message through
the protest art. Of late Banksy, the anonymous artist from London, whose works,
ironically are sold for millions of dollars (no other anonymous artist is sold for
such obscene prices so far), had involved in the Israel-Palestine crisis by
landing in the crisis ridden areas and painting pictures of hope (often with
children as protagonists, a clever ploy to get the attention of the people),
which, it was reported that, were lifted by art dealers and their agents for
post-war commerce elsewhere.
Protest Art
is sometimes dubbed as reactionary art. The negative connotation weighs down on
the real intention of such art. Reactionary art can be just naïve and hypocritical
but all kinds of protest art are not necessarily so. Protest art too needs a positive
environment to flourish. Where totalitarian regimes are in place or state
censorship is rampant artists do not dare to make protest art that challenge
the authority. Art that has the critical edge and has the ability to dare the
authorities may go underground and anonymous (exactly the way Banksy had
started off in late 1980s in England) in such situations. Result; a lot of
graffiti in the city walls, posters, performances, videos and secretly shared
documents and images.
(Ai Wei Wei)
Today, it
is not difficult to trace the origins of a graffiti and underground art. With
the presence of AI controlled CCTVs and other surveillance mechanisms,
authorities could zero in on the artists and if need be, curtail them from such
activities by imprisoning or slapping sanctions on them. Ai Wei Wei is a best
example of such artists who dared the one party ‘democracy’ of China and got
incarcerations in return. All the artists are not Banksys or Ai Wei Weis. It
takes a lot of guts to speak up and a dare the authorities. During the times of
peace, one could talk about the war times and express angst against atrocities
of wars one’s heart’s content. But in the war time, especially when the
authorities are on the side of the perpetrator, the artists cannot speak for
the victims.
It is not a
rule though. In the present context, though India has lately condemned the
ongoing war in Gaza and pummeling of the Arab citizens by the Israeli forces and
the Arab retaliations, one does not know whether the Indian authorities really
entertain artists in India speaking on behalf of the Hamas, the Arab extremists
who fights for the freedom of Palestine. Though there are writers,
intellectuals and journalists speak against Indian authorities for siding with
the Israel, their reactions are contained by the counter narratives rampant in
the official, unofficial and citizen media. Art is slightly different in that
case. Words can be responded with words. Art’s power cannot be responded with
another kind of art, especially when the artist who has done the powerful
protest art is famous like Ai Wei Wei or Bansky who have an international
standing.
Whenever the
issue of censorship has come up for public debate, we have talked about
self-censorship as a ploy to hoodwink the authorities. During the rise of the
Nazis in Germany, many a German Expressionist had resorted to allegories and
metaphors that did not speak of the Nazis but spoke of the totalitarian rulers
and authorial fallacies culled up from the vast repository of European literature
including that of Shakespeare. When India was under the rule of non-BJP
regimes, artists spoke of the local, national and international crises through their
art. Now, with regimes showing totalitarian traits both in the center and
state, artists do a lot of self-censorship. Look at the kind of art that is produced
in Kerala, where there is a thriving art scene. They produce such art that does
say a lot about the land that they live, the abstract ideas expressed through
forms and a lot of concern for environment. There is a joke doing rounds in the
art scene; when there was a crisis in the tribal belt of Vayanadu, in Kerala,
it was easy to paint the crisis in Kashmir or Palestine. A child died of hunger
in Kerala is neglected while Alan Kurdi, the Kurdish toddler died in the Mediterranean
seashore is a talking point for the artists in Kerala.
Artists in
Kerala may be afraid of the totalitarian regimes. Or they may be doing
self-censorship. Even if both are not the case, then they may be speaking
through metaphors. One cannot say for sure. What is sure is this that protest
art is Kerala and elsewhere has become a part of city beautification projects,
funded by the authorities and promoted by the mainstream curators and art
promoters. We are as well as they are now spellbound. We need to wait for the
spell to wither off.
-JohnyML
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