[Reader-list] Fwd :François Gautier does it again

[Aishwarya Iyer]

Dear Fatima and Inder,

Inder seems to have taken issue with the fact that my argument resembles
that of the right. Let me clarify however, that I would be the last person
to endorse its views, despite being a practising Hindu. I wish to take an
objective view of Hussain's exhibition of certain "questionable" art, the
media's characterisation of it as "portraying the religious as nude" and the
subsequent parallel drawns between his representation of mythic/historic
Muslim personalities and hindu myths.

If you claim that Hussain naively exhibited the two sets of work, so that
they be considered independently and not beg comparison to each other, you
are surely missing an important point. The subtext had been arranged to
achieve a certain effect. For Hussain such gimmicks landed him better sales,
greater publicity and won him more titles as the maverick-painter. The
argument for free expression almost seems anachronistic in this day and age.


For Hussain, creating free art, uncluttered by religious fetishism was the
least of his concerns. What disturbs me is the comparison of his hindu
subjects with the muslim ones. Even if [and I say this with circumspection],
Hussain had no such comparative representation in my mind, he should have
foreseen the damage it did to the segment of discourse on hindu practises
and its effect on muslim practices. If art is free, then he should have
imaginatively represented the prophet's kin, without paying heed to the
injunction in the Quran.

To me the double standards on Hussain's part are appalling.

The acceptance of nudity in art does not ensure one's well-readness. See the
brilliant egon schiele for once then. It is important for us to interpret
the events in the light of our present, rather than with recourse to heady
notions which have been handed down from generations [free expression]. I
would like you to speak with such fervour in public, Inder, concerning the
subject of the Danish cartoonist then.

[I deliberately use the difference [hindu/muslim] here to achieve a certain
effect, for me it serves here as a functional difference, rather than
a merely ideological one]

Fatima, I do not think it would be possible for Taslima to go to her
homeland and explicate her art. The artist creates, and it is for us to
interpret. However, I agree with you on the artists' encashing of moral and
social anathemas for unthinkable monetary sums.

love,
Aishwarya Iyer
Jadavpur University
Calcutta





On 6/15/07, S Fatima <sadiafwahidi at yahoo.co.in> wrote:
>
> Dear Aishwarya
> Hussain may or may not have indulged in a hypocracy
> (about not portraying his own religious icons), but I
> think the greater hypocracy of most artists (including
> Rushdie) is to disconnect from the people/masses who
> ultimately oppose their "blasphemous" art. Our artists
> makes billions of dollars selling their paintings to
> the elite, but never make an effort to spread
> awareness among the masses about what their art is all
> about, or why do they paint a deity in the nude. They
> just assume that if the people do not appreciate their
> art, it is people's fault, not the artist's. If our
> education system had taught us how to appreciate good
> art, how to read a painting, we probably would have
> less of incidents such as the recent one at Baroda art
> college. It is the elite of this country that is
> mostly responsible for the growing intolerence among
> the people. Husain or Rushdie or Tasleema Nasreen are
> not hiding in foreign lands because of a threat to
> their lives, but because they can't come to the street
> to explian why they wrote or painted what they did.



 Please give me a chance ot provoke you a little.......

If i ask u, who are you ?
you will probably reply, BJP, Bajrangdal,ShivSaina,VHP, and RSS... the
other side of fundamentalists names of other religions...

If that is true, then i understand why u fear Hussain, because your
daal roti must be coming from that... and if u say that you are really
afraid of Hussain without being a party to the above party(s), then u
are simply naive or a dangerously half read person...

normally, i dont respond like this... but i see a child like innocence
 in your reflectiion...
may be the Drawings/paintings of Hussain has given u nightmeres, this
silly modern art is not good for children... you know..... it is not
so good for adults even... because the time space has shifted the form
of art even... so there is no fight really, on what is good art and
bad art.... most of things are dead by now....... i believe, we are
quite close to life and living forms, but if only we cease to look at
life merely as a subject...What Hussain is doing... is his own
world...whether he is making money with his art or pleasing his gods..
it is all his private vision... let us respect 'the other'... let us
respect the artists choice....

but what you are doing, that is question....

yes, i usually i introduce myself : THIS indersalim STUFF from
KASHMIR... with LOVE


--- Aishwarya Iyer <aisiyer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On the other hand, I totally stand by François
> > Gautier's view of Hussain's
> > hypocrisy. Would he have represented his own
> > religion in this manner?
> > Freedom is not an absolute entity. Freedom must
> > recognise its sister,
> > responsibilty. Look at what Rushdie did for
> > instance, and invited the fatwa
> > upon himself. He was conscious of his own
> > transgression, but Hussain did it
> > for cheap thrills.
> >
> > It is interesting how one can unwittingly fall in a
> > trap.
> >
> > Aishwarya
> >
> >
> > On 6/12/07, inder salim <indersalim at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > It is very interesting to see how one can
> > unwittinlgly fall in a trap...
> > >
> > > You begin to criticize the politicians for all the
> > ills in India...
> > > and also highlight the fact that they are terrible
> > manipulators...
> > > fine.... but suddenly you criticize the aritsts
> > choice for being
> > > creative.... and forget the the fact that the
> > politicians are ther
> > > real culprits...( if they only are )
> > >
> > > for Hussain ( whether he is a genius or not ) i
> > can quote Salman Rushdie
> > > for you
> > >
> > > There is no Freedom of Expression if it does not
> > provoke, it is
> > > meaningless...
> > >
> > > with love
> > > indersalim
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Democracy Hijacked
> > >
> > > François Gautier
> > >
> > > Practitioners of cynical politics who are driven
> > by
> > > the lust for power are destroying all that is good
> > and
> > > true and valuable in India . Hindus are mocked at
> > and
> > > persecuted while Government is busy devising ways
> > and
> > > means of dividing the nation along caste and
> > communal
> > > lines
> > >
> > > India prides itself as the greatest democracy in
> > the
> > > world. But actually, there are very few places
> > where
> > > democracy has been so hijacked and perverted.
> > Nothing
> > > demonstrates this better than the manoeuvring
> > going on
> > > at the moment to find India 's next President.
> > >
> > > President APJ Abdul Kalam must be the most popular
> > > President in the history of India . Yet he will
> > not be
> > > re-elected, because he was the people's President
> > and
> > > not a stooge of political parties.
> > >
> > > Congress president Sonia Gandhi will never forgive
> > > him, as he was the one who stopped her from
> > becoming
> > > Prime Minister when he told her in the privacy of
> > his
> > > chambers that it was unconstitutional to hold two
> > > passports - Indian and Italian - as she did for
> > many
> > > years (she is not the only foreigner who did so
> > after
> > > obtaining Indian citizenship).
> > >
> > > Quite a few Muslims regard him suspiciously
> > because,
> > > although he is a true Muslim, he respects other
> > > religions and is known to keep the Bhagvad Gita
> > and
> > > Sri Aurobindo's Savitri in his study. Thus
> > Mayawati,
> > > partly elected by Muslims votes, will keep away
> > from
> > > him. And the BJP is wary of Kalam because he did
> > not
> > > always do its bidding.
> > >
> > > How else is democracy perverted in India ?
> > >
> > > Well, here you have a party, the Congress, which
> > has
> > > been going from bad to worse in the last 15 years,
> > > came a miserable last in the recent Uttar Pradesh
> > > Assembly election, and sprung to power at the
> > Centre
> > > by a freak accident because the TDP lost in Andhra
> > > Pradesh and the Marxists did well in West Bengal .
> > >
> > > Yet, the Congress is all powerful at the moment
> > and is
> > > dividing India more and more along caste and
> > religion
> > > lines, thanks to a cynical reservation policy -
> > > witness the recent strife in Rajasthan.
> > >
> > > You have a foreigner who, whatever her qualities
> > > -honesty, hard work, family values - is just an
> > > elected MP, like hundreds of others, and yet rules
> > as
> > > the supreme leader of this country, one whose word
> > can
> > > make or unmake anybody. Do you think it would be
> > > possible for an Indian to become a de facto
> > President
> > > or Prime Minister in the US , France or Germany ?
> > > Absolutely not!
> > >
> > > Even India 's Prime Minister, a decent but weak
> > man,
> > > is not elected: He was defeated the last time he
> > > contested an election and is now a Rajya Sabha MP
> > from
> > > Assam , where he has no roots at all.
> > >
> > > Democracy in India has also been hijacked by
> > cynical
> > > mathematics: How to get elected with the votes of
> > the
> > > Muslims; who remain the most backward community in
> > > India, in spite of having brought to power umpteen
> > > Congress Governments since Independence; and how
> > to
> > > manipulate the Dalits, who have had a fair share
> > of
> > > benefits and have had one of them as President and
> > > many of whom are politicians in power.
> > >
> > > Ms Mayawati has become a master of cynical
> > > mathematics: Muslims + Dalits + Brahmin votes =
> > > Absolute majority. Yet, will she do more for the
> > > Muslims and the poor of Uttar Pradesh than she did
> > in
> > > her three previous stints as Chief Minister?
> > >
> > > It seems doubtful, the way she has started,
> > wasting
> > > hundreds of crores by scrapping all previous
> > projects,
> > > including the Special Economic Zones and
> > transferring
> > > hundreds of officials.
> > >
> > > In the name of freedom of expression, Indian
> > > intellectuals defend people like MF Husain, who
> > > denigrates Durga , India 's most holy goddess.
> > Would
> > > he dare depict Mohammed's wife in this manner?
> > > Certainly not!
> > >
> > > When the Prophet is caricatured by a Danish
> > newspaper
> > > - harmless lampooning compared to Husain's
> > derogatory
> > > portrayal of Durga - the entire Muslim world
> > erupts in
> > > flames. Had Husain defiled Islam's icons, he would
> > > have been dead today.
> > >
> > > Did India 's 'free' Press ever care to show on TV
> > or
> > > publish in magazines and newspapers Husain's
> > > derogatory paintings? Yet, they are freely
> > available
> > > and have been reproduced in a coffee table book
> > > sponsored by Tata Steel with a foreword by Russi
> > Modi.
> > >
> > >
> > > India's judiciary is stretched to the limits by
> > clever
> > > lawyers getting their rich clients off the hook,
> > > thanks to judges who go by the book without
> > adapting
> >
> === message truncated ===>
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