WHAT KIND OF SYMBOLIC VALUE DOES M.F.HUSAIN'S act of acquiring Qatari citizenship possess?

And how do we deserve to be blamed? To begin with, forcing him to become a painter-in-exile is not only disgraceful but it also challenges the grand ideals of justice and freedom of expression enshrined in our Constitution. It exposes the government’s lack of will to protect soft targets like artists and poets; it also reveals how the so called guardians of morality almost always take recourse to vandalism and violence as modes of redressing popular ‘hurt’. And how,unfortunately, they often succeed in spreading terror, at least for some time. In this context, accusing Husain of being a greedy betrayer who chose another country over his own does not make for a convincing proposition. There are several issues at stake here – interpretation of art, public anger (manipulated or otherwise), the crisis of representation and belonging, among others. ART India has engaged in a debate with them in most of its volumes: the ‘Censorship’ issue comes readily to mind.

Against this setting, the issue on ‘Aesthetics and Politics’ raises significant questions, although of a different kind. Girish Shahane’s Lead Essay looks at the complex relationship between political art, hypocrisy, political correctness and aesthetic appeal. Geeta Kapur writes for ART India after a long time: in a perceptive essay, she re-introduces Tushar Joag as artist and activist. Arshiya Lokhandwala looks at Tejal Shah’s exploration of gender issues as Meera Menezes takes us through Ravi Agarwal’s career as photographer and environmental activist. Sandhya Bordewekar looks at political art in Baroda as Latika Gupta files a report about a seminar on the Kerala Radical Group. In his Letter, Quddus Mirza discusses the relationship between art and politics in Pakistan as Anirudh Chari takes a quick look at Ai Wei Wei’s status as a political artist in China.

We carry reviews of important exhibitions and other special features.

I hope you enjoy reading this issue. Do let me know what you think of it

Warm regards,
Abhay Sardesai