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New Delhi: A section
of artists and intellectuals Thursday expressed their shock over
the government asking organisers of an exhibition in China to
remove an artwork depicting the Gujarat riots.
The video footage is by Tejal Shah, an artist from Mumbai, and is
part of the exhibition, Indian Highway, currently on at the Ullens
Centre for Contemporary Art in Beijing.
Condemning the move to remove the work, artists belonging to the
Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT), in a statement, said: "I
Love My India (2003) by Shah, a young multimedia artist, had been
exhibited in India and abroad and the ministry of external affairs
advise to remove the work violates the right to free speech in the
country".
"That its subject is communal killings in Gujarat in 2002 is only
indicative of the fact that many contemporary artists in India
have focused on communal, political and social problems which we
have faced in the last two decades. We have fought hard to uphold
the right to free speech which is a pillar of democracy," SAHMAT
said.
"It is ironic that our government would seek to censor the
exhibition in China because the exhibition was in a private space
and has not been sponsored by the government. Even if it had been,
such censorship is totally unacceptable," it said.
The statement said the ministry should immediately withdraw the
advisory and the video should be reinstated right away.
The statement was signed by Ram Rahman, Vivan Sundaram, Geeta
Kapur, Dayanita Singh, Shireen Gandhy, M.K. Raina, Madangopal
Singh, Bharti Kher, Subodh Gupta, Devika Daulet Singh, Ranjit
Hoskote, Parthiv Shah, Vidya Shah, Indira Chandrasekhar, Rajendra
Prasad, Gigi Scaria, Atul Dodiya and Anju Dodiya, among others.
The ministry refused to comment on the issue.
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