Writers, Artists and Academics

Image courtesy: Niha Masin | Twitter

We, the undersigned, express solidarity with the young artists who were subjected to intimidation and discrimination at and by the India Art Fair (IAF) on the 2nd of February 2020. We strongly condemn the absolutely unethical and prejudiced attitude displayed by the Fair management towards these artists.

On the 2nd of February, a group of artists were participating in an invited live-art performance at the India Art Fair on the theme of strength of women and communal harmony, drawing inspiration from a variety of sources. A musician was also performing in the same booth.

The police disrupted the programme on account of an anonymous complaint, intimidated the participating artists, and proceeded to shut down the performance entirely. The officials at IAF did not intervene on behalf of the artists at this or any other point during the time that the police were present and interrogating them. In fact, officials from IAF were aggressive with the artists, refused to listen, shouted at them, and even tried to have the artwork removed from the wall. The festival director is reported to have come to the booth and failed to extend support to the artists, as well. Eventually, the artwork was thrown on the floor by Delhi Police, and the booth was sealed by IAF. Thereafter, the artists went outside where the police proceeded to question them on the use of Urdu poetry and calligraphy in the work. But after the poetry (excerpted from a well-known ghazal by Iqbal) was translated for them, the police decided there was nothing there which could be called an offence and said that there would be no further action taken. However, they did ask for and note down the name of the ‘artist in the hijab’. They revealed that the anonymous “complaint” they received informed them of ‘an artwork at IAF being made by someone wearing clothes resembling the women sitting in Shaheen Bagh’. This line of inquiry openly targeted and discriminated against the female Muslim artists wearing hijab who participated in the programme. When the artists returned to the booth after the police left, the artwork was nowhere to be found and has since been untraceable.

Throughout this time, the officials at the fair, instead of stepping in and listening to the artists and examining the situation fully, abdicated their responsibilities and left the artists and the curator to reason and negotiate with the police. The key question remains why IAF not only failed to stand by the artists but were also active participants in the harassment meted out to them. They have further later claimed to the police and public that they had no knowledge that the event was happening, which has since been proved to be false as the artists leading the programme have publicly shared the invitation in which the event is listed. This invitation had been widely circulated at and prior to the fair. Other artists at the fair have even attested to this.

The abdication of responsibility by IAF and their absolutely unjustifiable treatment of the young artists is not acceptable. In fact, given the details of this case, IAF’s behaviour is itself absolutely discriminatory. This episode reveals a shocking lack of knowledge as well as regard for the culture of the very country that the fair claims to represent. Moreover, it is not acceptable to allow artists’ expression to be curtailed on account of an anonymous complaint, especially when that complaint reeks of nothing but deep seated and reprehensible Islamophobia. The fact that the art fair has tried to insulate itself from the ongoing movement against CAA, NRC, and NPR by creating a "zero-tolerance" policy against banners and sloganeering is a troubling violation of the right to dissent. That this policy was framed in terms of "safety" is ignorant and misleading given that those participating in this non-violent movement have actually been at the receiving end of brutal violence in the form of lathi-charge, beating and, even, bullets at hands of security forces and law-enforcement agencies. That the same agencies were allowed to target and intimidate young artists on the basis of an Islamophobic complaint is an unacceptable lack of sensitivity towards the vulnerability of marginalized peoples in this current political milieu. Ideologies of bigotry cannot be allowed to determine who can create art, where they can create it, what its content can be or what artists can wear while making it, even if that bigotry is being endorsed by a law enforcement agency.

Indian artists deserve and demand more support from platforms that sell their work and claim to represent the artistic community of the country. Are the politics of art works only to be profited from (there were some explicitly political artworks at other booths which were artistic comments on the abuse of the constitution in several ways) but not defended when the vulnerabilities and dangers that accompany having those politics play out at our fairs and galleries? The question also must be asked about the role hierarchy plays in deciding whether artists get the support they need from art institutions. All of these artists are very young and only starting out their careers with an admirable commitment to make their art a site of engagement with the society they live in.

We stand by their conviction to make their art practice speak of solidarities, express dissent and celebrate diversity. We demand that the India Art Fair apologise to them.