[Reader-list] Husain Exhibition Attacked in Delhi

rohan saha rohansaha at gmail.com
Tue Aug 26 14:31:55 IST 2008 

Dear Chanchal & Prabhakar,

Firstly, I am not disputing your right to be angry. Nor am I justifying
Husain's expressions. I am merely stating that there is a proper channel and
manner through which your feelings may be expressed and they do not include
hooliganism and vandalism. I find it hard to believe that you support such
violent moral policing *after *the legal system has taken decision regarding
the content of the paintings. As long as you are in a democracy, abide by
the democratic institutions. Today you have issues regarding a particular
painting and hence you sanction violent and illegal protests against it,
tomorrow someon else will do the same with respect to some different
painting / film / book etc etc where do you draw the line?  Or should we
import the Pakistani standard of justice, or better yet, the Taliban's
standard which mandates obliteration of all expression which is not in
accordance with its beliefs? I feel that by supporting such actions you are
essentially aggravating this situation of moral policing and a complete
disregard of the rule of law.

Secondly, as regards nudity, it is a palatable and indeed a much appreciated
genre of art and while I understand that you have an aversion to it, I
really don't see how you are justified in enforcing these aversions upon
others.

Finally, these constant references to the foreign (Islamic) jurisdictions
are completely redundant to the discussion because we are *not *living in
those conuntries and *do not *follow their moral standards or their systems
of justice. What could / would have happened to these painters and authors
in those countries is no concern of ours because those are not really the
benchmarks we aspire to set (at least i hope not).

Rohan

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 12:48 PM, S. Jabbar <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com> wrote:

> Maybe it comes as a surprise to you, but I find nothing offensive in
> nudity.
> My mother is 75 years old and I find her beautiful. If a sensitive artist,
> appreciative of the beauty of an ageing body with all that is considered to
> be flawed by a culture that glorifies youth and pornography were to paint
> her and she were to acquiesce, I would have no problem at all.
>
> BTW, a decade ago I had worked on a photography project with the artist
> Sheba Chhachhi where we had explored these very questions in what I
> considered to be stunningly beautiful black & white prints.
>
>
> On 8/26/08 9:07 AM, "Prabhakar Singh" <prabhakardelhi at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > If some artist in the name of art paints your mother nude and displays it
> in
> > art galleries and exhibitions to public how would you feel and how wold
> you
> > react? Will you write the same languge which you have written here and
> take
> > the same action as suggested by you to others? Will you appreciate the
> > beautiful work of art in the same manner? After all every freedom has its
> > sensible limits.
> > Prabhakar
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----
> > From: rohan saha <rohansaha at gmail.com>
> > To: S. Jabbar <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com>
> > Cc: Sarai <reader-list at sarai.net>
> > Sent: Tuesday, 26 August, 2008 12:54:16 AM
> > Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Husain Exhibition Attacked in Delhi
> >
> > Dear All,
> >
> > I am new to this list and was added recently.
> >
> > I had a couple of observations about the ongoing debate.
> >
> > As regards the definition of "art"; it is an extremely subjective
> definition
> > and will vary from person to person. But one's is free to express what he
> > wants whether it qualifies as art or not and just because a painter puts
> > forth one offensive painting does not mean that every painting prepared
> by
> > him should be branded as offensive.
> >
> > Also, I understand the outrage directed against an artist for the manner
> in
> > which he has depicted a religious deity or a religious symbol but I can't
> > comprehend how that outrage sanctions hooliganism  and vandalism. There
> are
> > legal channels which can be employed to prosecute a person whose
> expression
> > / "art" outrages the sentiments of a community. Every country has them,
> as
> > does India under Chapter XV of the Penal Code.
> >
> > I do understand that a country such as Pakistan, China, Saudi Arabia etc
> > would tend to punish such actions more severely, maybe even with death,
> > therefore I tend to be thankful that I'm in India and *not *one of those
> > countries.
> >
> > Finally, would the same controversy have occurred if these paintings were
> > rendered a Hindu artist? By a Menon or Maity or Sen rather than a Husain?
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Rohan
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 9:37 PM, S. Jabbar <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >> What, dear Aditya are you referring to and pronouncing on now?  Is this
> too
> >> to be labeled under Muslim art and anti-Muslim art, one to denounced and
> >> the
> >> other to be defended? What a terrible bore!
> >>
> >>
> >> On 8/25/08 9:15 PM, "Aditya Raj Kaul" <kauladityaraj at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Art - It cannot be called a work of Art for sure.
> >>
> >> Wonder why the Danish
> >>> cartoonist abused, maligned and mis-represented. Even
> >> his was a work of pure
> >>> art. Amd, wasn't that his job too...
> >>
> >> Its quite unfortunate to see some
> >>> ultra-liberals (chappal & Jholla fame)
> >> defending such mindless imagination.
> >>> There isn't any justification for it.
> >>
> >> Had something of this scale been done
> >>> in some other country such as
> >> Pakistan, Saudia Arabia, China etc.; the person
> >>> would't have been alive by
> >> now.
> >>
> >> Aditya Raj Kaul
> >>
> >>
> >> On 8/25/08, S. Jabbar
> >>> <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> You are welcome to critique the works of
> >>> the artist and what you perceive
> >>> to
> >>> be the motives that drive her/his
> >>> art.
> >>>
> >>> But why is it that you feel the need to defend the right to destroy
> >>> that
> >>> art?
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On 8/25/08 8:44 PM, "Prabhakar Singh"
> >>> <prabhakardelhi at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> The work of art is for the consumption
> >>> of people but it should not
> >>> consume the
> >>>> consumer itself.The artist
> >>> should know it very well.He should not try to
> >>> play
> >>>> with their faith just
> >>> for his/her cheap fun.An artist who is not
> >>> sensitive to
> >>>> emotions and
> >>> faith of the people at large is not an artist at all.Art is
> >>> not
> >>>> an end
> >>> in itself.It is for the people and for the good of the society.
> >>>>
> >>> Prabhakar
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> ----- Original Message ----
> >>>> From: S. Jabbar
> >>> <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com>
> >>>> To: Prabhakar Singh <prabhakardelhi at yahoo.com>;
> >>> Shuddhabrata Sengupta
> >>>> <shuddha at sarai.net>; Sarai <reader-list at sarai.net>
> >>>
> >>>> Sent: Monday, 25 August, 2008 8:25:17 PM
> >>>> Subject: Re: [Reader-list]
> >>> Husain Exhibition Attacked in Delhi
> >>>>
> >>>> People have become rather
> >>> emotional and touchy of late.  Everyone seems
> >>> to
> >>>> have become
> >>> hypersensitive and quick to take offense-- of course it helps
> >>> if
> >>>> there
> >>> are TV cameras to record one's display of piety.
> >>>>
> >>>> Is one's faith so
> >>> fragile that a drawing or a piece of poetry or writing
> >>> and
> >>>> can shake it?
> >>> Evidently so and mores the pity.  Why tear down works of
> >>> art
> >>>> when it is
> >>> faith that is crumbling?  My prescription is twenty years of
> >>>> solitary
> >>> meditation in a cave in the Himalayas.
> >>>>
> >>>> Do you know the story of Swami
> >>> Vivekanand who stood in front of the
> >>> goddess
> >>>> at Khir Bhavani? Look it
> >>> up.  It's instructive.  And humbling.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> On 8/25/08 7:52 PM,
> >>> "Prabhakar Singh" <prabhakardelhi at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> Artists should be
> >>> careful about the cultural or religious sensitivities
> >>> of
> >>>>> the
> >>>>>
> >>> people.Art can flourish even without delving on such sensitive and
> >>> touchy
> >>>
> >>>>> issues which may have emotional importance for some
> >>>>> people.
> >>>>
> >>> Prabhakar
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> ----- Original Message ----
> >>>> From:
> >>> Shuddhabrata Sengupta
> >>>>> <shuddha at sarai.net>
> >>>> To: sarai list
> >>> <reader-list at sarai.net>
> >>>> Sent: Monday, 25
> >>>>> August, 2008 6:30:19 PM
> >>>>
> >>> Subject: [Reader-list] Husain Exhibition Attacked in
> >>>>> Delhi
> >>>>
> >>>> Dear
> >>> all,
> >>>>
> >>>> Once again, with depressing, monotonous and disgusting
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >>> predictability, a group of hooligans affiliated to the Hindutva
> >>>> (Hindu
> >>>
> >>>>> Fundamentalist) agenda who call themselves the 'Shri Ram Sena'
> >>>> have
> >>> attacked
> >>>>> and ransacked a small exhibition in Delhi of images by
> >>>> and
> >>> about the
> >>>>> nonegarian painter M. F. Husain, The exhibition was
> >>>> held on
> >>> the premises of
> >>>>> the office of the Safdar Hashmi Memorial
> >>>> Trust
> >>> (SAHMAT) in Delhi, to protest
> >>>>> against the decision by the
> >>>> orgnaizers
> >>> of an Art Summit in Delhi to exclude
> >>>>> work by Husain citing
> >>>> reasons of
> >>> security. This incident demonstrates, yet
> >>>>> again, how
> >>>> inimical the
> >>> forces of Hindutva are to an open society and to
> >>>>> the
> >>>> freedom of
> >>> expression.
> >>>>
> >>>> See -
> >>>>>
> >>> http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Husain-photo-
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >>> exhibition-vandalised-yet-again/352835/ for a report in the Indian
> >>>>
> >>> Express
> >>>>> that carries details of the incident.
> >>>>
> >>>> This list has
> >>> discussed such attacks on
> >>>>> freedom of expression before,
> >>>> and just as
> >>> we have had forthright criticism
> >>>>> of Muslim
> >>>> fundamentalists attacking
> >>> Taslima Nasrin, and the CPI (M) led
> >>>>> West
> >>>> Bengal government making it
> >>> impossible for her to stay in Kolkata, so
> >>>>>
> >>>> too, we must take into
> >>> account this latest assault on cultural
> >>>> liberty.  I
> >>>>> appeal to all to
> >>> condemn this attack on the freedom of
> >>>>>
> >>>> expression.
> >>>>
> >>>> regards
> >>>
> >>>>
> >>>> Shuddha
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>> _________________________________________
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>


-- 
Rohan Saha
Student,
B.A., LL.B. (Hons.)
NALSAR University of Law,
Hyderabad,
India.
Phone: +91 9989190134

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