India Art Fair not safe space, say artists after cops seal their booth

The India Art Fair is not a safe space, said artists behind the performative project ‘The Wall’ on Monday (February 3), a day after police sealed their booth following an anonymous complaint about artworks depicting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The Post Art Project leading the “live community artwork” also dismissed the organisers’ claim that they were unaware of the details of the work. ‘The Wall’ project included songs, paintings and poetry.

Police interrupted their artwork on Sunday, the last day of the three-day fair, following an “anonymous complaint made about the artwork being prepared by someone wearing clothes resembling the women sitting in Shaheen Bagh,” Gargi Chandola and Yaman Navlakha of the Post Art Project said in a statement.

“The Art Fair is NOT a safe space. The police overreacted initially, and instead of quiet inquiries chose to shut down the performance. Only after reasoning and explaining did they take cognisance of what actually was happening, see reason and close the matter,” said the statement shared on Instagram.

The art that was being made was all about celebrating artistic unity across diverse communities, it added. “The event invites clearly mentioned a ‘live community artwork’ as an all-day event. This schedule was repeatedly and clearly shared with the India Art Fair by the curator,” Chandola and Navlakha wrote.

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The performative art piece at the Italian Embassy Culture Centre booth featured paintings as well as songs, including Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s “Hum Dekhenge”, and poetry recitations talking about the love, beauty, tenderness and the strength of women across the country. The invite to the performance, available and circulated among visitors, mentioned “The Wall” as a “community art building mural led by the Post Art Project (Yaman N/Gargi C)”.

“What happened yesterday was intimidation. There was no question of legality behind it, because nothing illegal was being done. The complaint made to the police — was it by some ‘concerned citizen’, or are we now all being watched for perceived ‘infringements’ even in so called safe spaces,” the statement said.

Following the commotion on Sunday, India Art Fair organisers released a statement saying they were not aware of the activities at the Italian Embassy Culture Centre booth, and added that while they “embrace the freedom of expression”, ensuring safety and security of their visitors was “paramount”.

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“India Art Fair embraces freedom of expression and believes individuals have the right to express their opinions in their own way. Artists are conscience keepers of a society and we place their voice at the centre of our programme,” the IAF statement said.

A senior police official on Sunday said police received a PCR call that some paintings depicting the CAA were being exhibited at the fair. “A police team was sent to check it, but no such painting was exhibited,” he said.

Post Art Project’s statement noted that the whereabouts of the “sealed” artworks was yet to be determined. “We are reading statements from the Police today, that they have not confiscated the artwork. So now we are trying to locate it,” it said.

(With inputs from agencies)