Education: the System and its ‘Lollipops’

Education is a word which mostly discussed by ‘educated’ people, as being educated they can acclaim the authority over the understanding of it. With the process of urbanization the middle class mind set has changed over the years. Small town parents allow their daughters to live in hostels or paying guests in order to seek better education thus the opportunities. Marriageable boys seek for educated girls and educated girls look for educated in-law’s family besides an educated groom. 

So, what the ‘education’ is all about? Is education means obtaining the academic degrees which could generate a source of income? Or source of income can only be generated by an academic degree? The first is a question here and obviously the rest two are not the answers. This Sunday morning while putting earphones into my quenchless ears, as they hardly get to hear radio jockey’s voice these days, fortunately found Kailash Kher’s interview to listen. A self taught singer who doesn’t need to be introduced. It is said about Kailash that the way Eklavya became adept into archery by watching only to Guru Dronacharya doing it; similarly he has accomplished himself as a singer by listening to music.

Singer Kailash Kher

One could love the words when kailash said, ‘there are two kinds of people in world, one is ‘padhe hue’ (educated) and another is ‘garhe hue’ (chiseled). But are educated ones not the chiseled? Or chiseled ones didn’t need any education? These are the questions to be analyzed and answered. Etymologically the word ‘education’ is derived from Latin word ‘educatio’ which means a breeding. Few educationists say that it came from Latin term ‘educatum’ meaning the act of teaching or training, and according to few others,  the word has originated from another Latin word ‘educare’ which means ‘to bring up’ or ‘to raise’. All these meanings indicate that education seeks to nourish the good qualities in human and draw out the best in every individual. Education seeks to develop the innate capacities of man.

And to fulfill this purpose the society and government establishes institutions like schools and universities providing various curriculums and different subject lines. It is not different than our ancient ‘gurukuls’, the thing is after British rule India were introduced a western education system by Britishers, by founding a plenty of institutions which continues till the date. The question is, ‘are the institutions imparting the exigencies to the nation successfully?’ The answer may be ‘yes’ or ‘no’ but the need to analyze the ‘system’ of academic institutes is felt inevitably.

The questions of education have much floated in my thinking process, not because I consider myself educated but because I came from a business based family, where education were not given any importance. In which boys are considered to adapt according to parental business, which doesn’t require any ‘outside’ learning, as it can be transferred hereditarily. And why do girls need to do something ‘outside’? when they would be married to ‘well doing’ guys, those can avail all ‘crownery’ facilities to them. Although there were no estoppels if anyone wished to pursue something ‘outside’ but anyone should come ahead to have the experience of the ‘air’.

But ‘air’ like ‘art’ is something in which all can’t enjoy breathing. A passion only can lead to one to do so. Although during my earlier bachelor degree, I don’t remember whether I had any passion for art. But one thing was clear to me that I won’t be able to sit at home ever enjoying the stuffs availed by an opposite gender called ‘husband’, I wanted to see and experience the world containing both goods and bads. So it was the passion towards ‘work’ which was obviously the academic studies that time.

I don’t recall my school days much as comparatively being less attached to that time. Although I was a class topper student in school, participating almost in all the activities, but the reason of less attachment was may be because it was not a 'specialization' based course. Afterwards during my BA, I used to sit in second or sometimes in front row in classroom and till the end of the first year was quite less noticed girl. But the academic result at the end of the year, brought sudden changes to me, and I was noticed by my professors and also by peers. An interest towards active participation in various competitions held at college campus was raised (mostly because of the creative interests). And right from the BA second year (it was 2002), I was getting more and more involved with academics and extra-curriculars, which started giving me an insight into the importance of education.

Here, education for me was an outside learning, which I could not obtain at home, although I believe that the capacity of grasping something good by a pursuant of any educational institute depends on his/her pedigreed personality also.  An educator or teacher can affect it at some extent, as for me all my teachers’ especially of all three colleges swaddles an immortal place around the heart, even if I couldn’t able to believe in their ideas at times. They believed in me so I believed in me, they expected something so I tried to complete that expectation, otherwise I had no one who could have faith in me or could spent any amount of expectation over me.

I didn’t ever think of getting a merit at state level in Bachelor of Arts, but it was Hindi Literature's professor Dr. Madhurima Singh’s words when she said to me, ‘every degree topper’s name is written on inerasable board with the father’s name, makes you and your teachers proud, you should think on it’. I thought on it and achieved that also but why my name could not appear on that board, is a different story. I don’t want to recall the stories containing unpleasant memories but those memories showed somewhere a morbid face of education.

Although I was living the most ‘attached’ years to my work place during graduation days, but the ‘real attached’ years started with the entry into Fine Art College by starting a BFA in Painting. The first year of BFA made me realize that for first time I have taken a right decision to come up with a ‘skill’ based subject after circumambulation around medical science and arts. Now whatever I was doing, it was the self exploration and fabrication of the rusted capacities. Throughout the first three years I put all my efforts as a obedient student, acclaiming the tag of most ‘sincere’ student not even of the class, but of institute, obtaining the best student award of the initial years and becoming a topper of the academics. But nearly to the end of the BFA all the tokens of ‘sincerity’ started seeming like ‘lollipops’. Lollipops are the attractive candies, generally given to kids for propitiating and to make them deviate from their real obstinacy. 

Token of hardworks should not be considered as ‘lollipops’, but if I felt so it had the reasons. Our academic structure or the treatment of teachers tells students to explore their capacities. But in every professional course there are the fields in which every student need ‘introduction’ along with ‘exploration’. Exploration can be to a thing/quality which one already has, but what about that which one doesn’t have but hold an extreme need of it?, which called introduction. For example if a fine art student is good at work but not communicative, S/he would be facing a problem of suppression and depression at her/his most ‘energetic’ age. Similarly if another student is good at communication but cannot sit for a while and work, there will be no meaning of that communication.

And I have seen educators boosting the capacities of students which they already have, but they are neglected where they needs their teacher’s belief. If a teacher keeps confidence on a student’s ability, even if there is a lack of it, students get a plenty of confidence to acquire that lacked one. After all, Education is not about the development of innate potential only; it is about an overall development of the personality. And a person having a negative overtone to a wider structure is ultimately suppressed and depressed by his own failures, can’t become a real educator. Pursuant should learn all the qualities of head, hand and heart through the process of education. And lacking of the ‘introduction’ part all tokens of the patient hardwork may seem like ‘lollipops’. Because lollipops are given to you in order to remain yourself as you are, almost making you forget the mulishness which is not always bad. Having those lollipops into hands one could be ‘honest’ to the limitations of a structure called institution but cannot ever capable to walk over a path which leads to an ‘ambitious’ and open pursuit. 

Another biggest problem of educators is trying to make students a believer of their ideas rather than to give freedom to explore their own creativity. Abided within someone’s influence cannot give birth to a fundamental and seminal personality. It can generate only the followers and ‘following’ to someone and ‘trained’ by someone are two diverse things. And a student should feel proud to tell the world that by whom S/he has trained despite of feeling satisfied by following someone. In the time of social networking sites which provides us more easily accessible options of ‘follow’ it’s a bit tough to save the soul by influences.  

Being an educator, I have also seen educators running into a race of becoming a ‘best teacher’. Institutionally the best teachers are those who make their students to score high. And every teacher wants his/her student to score high, by assigning newer projects and more homework to them. But no one can manage to think for a while from a student’s side. If all subject teachers would be assigning and pressurizing for his/her subject’s work, what will happen to an individual called ‘student’? S/he would not be less than a restrained donkey. In this process teachers are not erroneous but system is. If a system would restrain an educator, the educator would restrain the student. And if we don’t want to continue the chain we will have to change the ‘system’ from where the chain begins.

Now let me try to attempt the answer of the question of ‘padhe hue’ and ‘garhe hue’, from where I started writing. I feel ‘educated’ and ‘chiseled’ are two interrelated terms, if education is not considered the only knowledge obtained at a specific place or institution. As books and educators need not be necessarily appendage of any institution or curriculum. At certain level curriculum has its own importance, it frames the working criteria which can bring both positive and negative aspects. By emphasizing on to necessary framing and bringing him/herself out of the limitation of curriculum, a student can do best with it. Because education not only comes from the books and institutional teachers, they are the path showers, the guides and the trainers, but most important knowledge and experience one gain by socializing in life, thus the end of an academic education should lead another education, that is the real aim of education. 

I Will See the Sky Tonight...

I don't want to go there

Where you are not

Instead I will see the sky tonight

Will try to find you in the stars

And I know you will show your hand to me

Yes! I am not compelled by the distance

Time has given me

I can fly down if I wish

Because I have wings

But I don't want to go there

Where you are not

There is only the 'rest'

The soulless Body

Instead I will talk to your soul

My ears will have your voice

Which echos around ethereally

And I know you will answer me 

Because I am the first one

You holded her hands

After a generation gap

And it's you who is in me

Still giving your fraction

Until I am alive

So, I don't want to go there

Where you are not

You are in the paper

My hands are holding just now

In form of the 'words'

You had given me 

Some years back

When I truly needed them

Still I need them & always will be...

Infact It's not only me

Everyone who met you once

From your surrounding

Have you in the form of your words

Then Why should I go there

Where you are not

Instead I should see the sky tonight

Should search you out in the stars...

(From a granddaughter)

Is Perfection Imperfect or Imperfect is Perfection?

The world around us is full of binaries - the opposite factors, and the connection/relation between them interests me. I see them, analyze them and try to explore their antagonist affinity by juxtaposing them. These binaries directly come from the world around me, in which I live and experience the things. Each experience in daily life even of a small venture or datum, leave a stamp over the thinking process, which later on converts into the central ideas for my works. 

Among these ideas, the one is about ‘Perfection’ and it’s binary ‘Imperfection’. Although perfection is considered an ultimate objective but experience of ‘perfection’ lies in its deficiency. This hiatus status gives birth to its opposite factor ‘imperfection’ which sometime reaches to the core of the ultimate. Thus collision begins which contains summation also. So, it implants distraction and connection both in single time.

The nature itself has created binaries i.e. day/night, sun/moon, sky/earth, heat/snow, fire/water, men/women etc., which are considered to have opposite characteristic to each other. Though nature had not differentiated and discriminated between them but it was the man’s intellect who determined these differences which later on resulted into masculine/feminine, strong/weak, good/bad, black/white and so on. The volition towards the exploring binary oppositions led me to depict the idea of ‘perfection’ & ‘imperfection’ into my works.

'Perfect Imperfection' Embroidery on cloth, Pen on Paper & Jute on Stratures

Before going to the outer world, I analyze myself as a personality and my responses to the world around me; and while doing so I feel that I am more comfortable with doing things ‘perfectly’. This perfection brings a certain aesthetic for me to enjoy and play with, but then I analyze the positive and negative aspects of it also. Here I can recall one of my teacher’s words, ‘You don’t have courage to destroy a drawing, why you want to make everything beautiful?’ I can extend this statement further and should write the experiences and oscillating thinking process of my study days as a painting student. Yes I was the one who used to feel romantic while painting instead of expressing the potency or force. A person who is in love cannot create energetic lines and cannot be perversive to his/her canvas. Or it may be my ‘nature’ being a female as women is considered more near to meticulous, detailed and soft approach of working rather than male beings of the earth.

It may be the reason why female students are more sincere, calm and obedient during the academics right from the class one to college time.  And today I am firmly experiencing it being a teacher and unable to delude my own student days. Anyway analyzing the gender differences is not the point but thing what I want to say is ‘gender nature’ could have responsible to a stylization of a female artist. Here some other things also I may include which I felt strongly those days, that a person who is a ‘skilled’ painter it is more difficult to do ‘distortion’ which actually needs a constant perseverance; Whereas who cannot draw accurate creates ‘distorted’ in first attempt even in attempting to make a accurate one. This is the reason Child Art is one of the pure form of art which is natural/easy for a child but difficult to reach by an academically trained ‘skilled’ painter and when one acquires the state of a child in his/her age of above 25-40 s/he acclaimed a more ‘matured’ artist.

Here when I am putting the word ‘skilled’ in inverted commas when I am using it along the word ‘artist’, it has a reason. Yes that was another thing which I learned being a painting student that ‘skill’ doesn’t only mean the accuracy of drawing and painting, it is more associated with the accuracy/success of execution which ultimately reaches to the communication. A communication which an art work and viewer has, and art work which has a successful communication is ‘skillful’. 

So, skill is a double meaning word like many of the other things. Now I wish to go back where I left the talk of ‘perfection’. Making things neat and beautiful, doing deeds calculative is not merely perfection because doing single thing in a time may lead it's other aspect untouched. Beauty is not only the one which is pleasant; the unpleasant could also look beautiful. I agree that roses are universally beautiful, no one can claim them ugly but one who is suffering in ‘Virah’/departure of the beloved may find them unpleasant or painful, the way ‘Virahini Nayika’ in Hindi literature feels the sorrow in ‘Spring’. And other could find beauty in ‘trash’ also, is the reason a number of artists have painted the ‘unpleasant’ scenes and moments in a beautiful way. Suchwise, although perfect things seems more articulated, decontaminated and genuine; but the coin has similar other side too. 

And what the perfection is all about forsooth, I try to execute in one of my work. Though the idea was a far existed one in mind but taking up some new material was experimental. Idea should be mingled up with the folk and tribal arts because it was created during the ‘Folk & Tribal Arts Workshop’ held at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi. Taking up the objective of promoting the Folk & Tribal artisans of the country, Centre invited the artisans from all over the India and young artists were instructed to imbibe their thought processes while siphoning the Folk & tribal elements from these invited artisans works.

Embroidery pieces using 'Sujani Embroidery'of Bihar (Including Chain Stitch & Kachha Tanka) 

Taking up two white painted statures and cross-weaved with black dyed jute is to juxtapose the opposites- the ‘perfect’ and ‘imperfect’. The first one is calculative attempt, neatly embroidered pieces which are stitched at their apt place as according to the ‘chhat pooja’ scene, a event majorly celebrated in Bihar, as I have taken up the 'Sujani embroidery' of Bihar state as a folk element to modulate with the idea. And the second one is a disorganized gesture including the replicas of embroidery pieces at few places made by pen on paper and leaving sewing needles into pieces without completing the work.

The 'Original' & the 'Replica'

Some Details

This idea of ‘perfection’ as a process and result I started analyzing more consciously, when I started confronting more ‘busy’ days than of earlier. When one do work only for the inlying satisfaction, aesthetic pleasure or as a hobby, one can find all ‘perfections’ competent, but when one wants to move on the circle by entering into the more professional sake, things could have a different face. I recall the college days while of my post graduation from Jamia Millia Islamia. Taking admission in Jamia demanded the complete change from routine to work style. Now the daily work place was no more near to the residential place, so expending the majority of time in travelling between Rohini to Okhla was the foremost thing which required thinking upon the ‘habitual’ nature.

Although I used to submit my all assignments in time, but at few times they jumped the deadlines or difficultly completed within the deadline. The reason was not that carelessness or insincerity but that was the habit of trying to achieve the entity of one thing and letting the remained things undone or untouched until that touched one reaches to its ultimate. And one could not ever forget that life is not about the doing one thing in a time, it demands multiple aspects in a single time.

Using a good font, visually interesting apparent presentation, detailed study or analysis could give a soul satisfaction and aesthetical pleasure to a ‘perfectionist’ but it could bring the instantaneous negative impression and one’s weakness into peer’s hands, if not completed within time. So, the question here is this ‘perfection’ perfect in itself if it is bringing negatory sides? I must say NO. Infact a CAPITAL ‘NO’, the way/thing which is inapt to fetch the eventual purpose cannot be perfect ever. It is comfy and palatable in process because one is over-involved into it, but the process is not the eventual purpose but process, submission and result all are combined. And satisfaction also doesn't lay in process and presentation only it’s upto you where you are exceeding it.

So, these intermingled thoughts puts the questions like Where is perfection then? And how could one define it? Perfection is imperfection or imperfection is perfection or they both are perfection otherwise they both are imperfection. 

(P.S.: Perfection generates the quality of patience, clear output, detailed analysis and so on but according to the need of time, place and space it should be versatile not stubborn. Otherwise it automatically turns into Imperfection)

Centralizing Peripheries

The Women Art Exhibition

The gender roles and the place of women artist has always been a polemic purport in art history. We may recall the ‘ismic’ time period of art which produced a number of great masters and also the ‘pre-ismic/renaissance’ and ‘post-ismic’ which we call today modern period. Our art history is evident enough to confabulate that ‘great’ art has produced by men artists only who earned the fame and name. The women were not inferior in potential and caliber but it was the lack of equal opportunities enjoyed by men and wasn’t availed to women. Women artists were ‘lone individuals’ whose creations were not socially explicable, and there were naturally fixed male and female ‘spheres of activity’ in public and private life that precluded women from any important role in production of art.

In late nineteenth century a movement called ‘feminism’ came into light which hoisted the curtains from the dark past of women’s lives. It became a revolutionary movement in field of arts also from where a number of women artists, writers and activists came forward to take charge for bringing women’s identity into active center from passive zones. The first phase of the movement brought the autobiographical interventions into writings and art works. The first feminist Simone de Beauvoir’s treatise ‘the second sex’ argued that ‘one is not born a woman, but becomes one’. This ‘social construction’ of gender roles further explored by Adeline Virginia Woolf in her book-length essay ‘a room of one’s own’ by saying that a woman too needs availability of time, money and space for her own, if she wants to become a great artist/writer apart from her domestic responsibilities. Than Linda Nochlin’s famous assertion was raised in her essay ‘why have there been no great women artists?’ in which her critical attention has been drawn to investigating the ways in which gender affects the creation and apprehension of art.

This was the time when many women artists came into light like Mary Cassatt, Eva Hesse, Lee Krasner, Barbara Kruger, Ana Mendieta, Georgia O’Keeffe, Judy Chicago, Tracey Emin, Carrie Mae Weems to name a few. Apart from this western perspective we may recall the Amrita Shergil’s contribution who is known as a first modern Indian painter. Amrita’s work and personality is compared with Mexican artist Frida Kahlo as both became famous as a revolutionary figures those didn’t ever worried about the ‘line of control’ marked by the society for its female beings by so called traditional conservators. Both these artists made masculine appearances within their feminine identities but they became able to do so because of the way they lived their lives. Whether some other female artists supposed not to dominate ‘their men’s’ identities like Lee Krasner and Elaine de Kooning, wives of Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning respectively.

Apart from it the contemporary time of art has brought many female artists into centre of art and art market, though the social mentality towards women has changed a lot now a days. In last some decades, Women artists have shown a diverse range of their creative skills in the field of visual arts. Arpana Caur, Anjolie Ela Menon, Anupam Sud, Shobha Broota, Gogi Saroj Pal, than Nalini Malini, Arpita Singh, Rekha Rodwittiya, Nilima Sheikh, Bharti Kher, Shilpa Gupta, Madhvi Parekh, Anita Dube, Sheba Chhachhi is few names those have significant contribution to art field. Some other names are also considerable like Anju Dodia, Reena Saini Kallat, Sharmila Samant, Sonia Khurana, Vibha Galhotra, Vidya Kamat and many more. And even young ladies are bringing the ‘masculine/tenacious’ subjects and themes into their art like Pooja Iranna takes the architectural and urban milieu to explore her artistic interest.  Here, women’s art is not only the autobiographical stories, executed with soft approach of handwork and embroideries. But she has learned enough to imbibe her docile identical elements into other spheres of society.

Although the present time has evolved a number of young practicing women artists, filling up the almost blank account of our past times, anticipating the better future of female art practices but if we see the percentage of female and male fine arts pursuers in art colleges, in one sense result may found not so satisfactory. The percentage in which female students enrolls into fine art colleges, tops in academics, that number is not seen into current contemporary art practices. The ratio of male practicing artists is more than female practitioners.  The reason may be of finding more ‘financially secured’ options or going back into domestic lives of our ‘traditional’ culture, but need is to bring out the more young feminine energies from hidden or struggling spheres of art world.

And that is the objective of Sahitya Kala Parishad, to organize a Women Art Exhibition which includes 51 artists including Shobha Broota, Gogi Saroj Pal, Arpana Caur, Anupam Sud, Amarjit and Usha Biswas are the names to encourage the young generation. then, Anita Krishali, Chitra Joshi, Deepali Manglik, Indu Tripathy, Ingrid Pitzer, Kavita Jaiswal, Kavita Nayar, Manu Singh, Meena Deora, Neha Talwar, Nira Davar, Nidhi Aggarwal, Nivedita Pandey, Nupur Kundu, Pooja Iranna, Prabha Shah, Promila Arora, Rajnish Kaur, Renuka Sondhi Gulati, Sabia, Shalu Malhotra, Shampa Bhattacharjee, Seema Kohli, Shelly Jyoti, Shruti Chandra Gupta, Surinder Kaur, Yuriko Endo Lochan, Vasundhara Tewari, Vijaya Bagai and Vipeksha Gupta, Vijayata Bhamri, those are persistently working since last 30-10 years in art field.  Having them in exhibition is like to pay honor to all Indian women artists for their active and considerable contribution towards Indian art scene in its historical and contemporary context. As it was the perseverance of many known and unknown women artists which established a progressive mindset towards the women’s creativity in art scene and opened a zone to contest.

While addressing the homage to established names there are women artists those efforts are being recognized, as Sahitya Kala Parishad wishes to provide a larger platform to budding talents of our nation also, so taking up the young artists like Archana Khurana, Anjali Goel, Anushree Jain, Anuja Vashistha, J. Deepa, Gunjan Tyagi, Him Rajani, Pallavi Singh, Megha Madan, Neha Grewal, Nisha Aggarwal, Richa Goel, Rimsy Chopra, Unnati Singh, will make the objectives more meaningful. So, this Women Art Exhibition is a bunch of diverse art practices done by Women Artists coming up from different cultural zones of India throughout their diverse range of styles/languages. As the month of March is considered to have International Women’s Day in it, and we are going to mark the end of the month with Women Art Exhibition at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, which Sahitya Kala Parishad aims to ‘Centralize’ the ‘Peripheral’ accounts of women’s art practices.

The Catalogue essay of VAMA: Women Art Exhibition by Nisha Aggarwal

Modulating the 'Demotic' & 'Domestic'

A Folk & Tribal Art Workshop 

Folk & Tribal art is produced from an indigenous culture, which is characterized by a naive style. Irrespective of modernity, industrialization or outside 'influences', the nature of folk and tribal art is specific to its particular culture. So, the varied geographical background, temporal prevalence and stylistic diversity are the specialties of the folk and tribal art which may also considered as rural, self-taught, local or pure art.

These arts as a 'term' is product of the colonial reign, where/when the impact of 'museumization' came into effect. Due to this effect the need of 'preservation' of our 'own' cultural identities were recognized. Folk and tribal arts were considered our very own arts, because this artistic practice has carried out by rural people dwelling in 'developing' places of India. They depict their modest and simple lifestyles in vibrant languages, which entail different styles, forms, aesthetics and materials depending on their geographical locations, traditional heritage and regional diversities. 

Folk & tribal art expresses the profound inclination of its creators/artisans towards their culture and nature. Although it is an art form which never enjoyed the feudal aristocratic patronage, but there has always been the penchant perseverance of its artisans towards their patrimonial arts and crafts which worked as an energetic lively force behind it. 

But these arts has always perceived as 'domestic' arts created only for a specific group of people or communities. This restricted underscore has sidelined these arts from the 'developed' notion of 'contemporary'. This division has discernible as more binary oppositions i.e. local, collective, rural, off-stream for folk and tribal arts and international/global, individualistic, urban, main-stream for modern & contemporary art. These binaries are as same as what one descry in the terms of 'illiterate' and 'educated', which usually judged under the western notion of 'intellectualism'. 

These notions of domestic, passive or alienated rather than the 'centralized' figuration of the society, one may concatenate to the status of 'women' as well. Because women too have confronted a discriminative dogma towards its identity as folk and tribal art has envisaged so far. They both are the subject of similar discourse, in the sense that they are born combating a 'masculine' opposite. 

Apart from it there were/are artists who have imbibed the folk and tribal elements and forms while their coadunation with modern and contemporary art. The Cholamandal Artist Village, situated near to Chennai, is one best attempt founded by K. C. S. Paniker, including around twenty resident artists/sculptors who live as a community, pool their skills, also run the Artist’s Handicraft Association and recognized internationally. Artists like S. H. Raza, K. G. Subramanyan, Arpana Caur, A. Ramachandran, Thota Vaikuntam, Laxma Gaud, Madhvi Parekh are to name a few who has contributed in recognizing folk & tribal elements into forefront of contemporary art practices. 

Throughout the last few years the galleries and some other organizations (both from private and government sectors) are coming forward and taking initiative to promote folk and tribal arts which is now venerably known  as 'Vernacular'/'demotic' instead of 'domestic'. But still the exigency of the present is to break down the existing discriminating binaries and to fill the gap between them. And to mark a strive to it, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi has decided to provide a wider platform to Indian women folk and tribal artisans and young women art practitioners in collaboration of Sahitya Kala Parishad, New Delhi.

As folk & tribal art in India speaks of varied manifestations including drawing/painting (paper-work or cloth-work), embroidery, designing, weaving and textiles (handlooms), patta-chitras, basket-making, jewelry and toy making (handicrafts), sculpture, pottery, wooden and conch- shell carving, metal work, mask making, kitchen objects, weapons and human body itself (Tattoos and Piercing). These forms of art encompasses the visual expressions of wandering nomads, as it is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetical (in contrast to fine arts*).

In India all these folk and tribal art forms are widely practised by women artisans. So, on the occasion of World Women’s Day, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi, is inviting 46 women artisans from all over India, specialized in their region specific arts and crafts. These women artisans are representing the diverse creativity of India coming from different states. 

Among them 17 women artisans named Sangeeta Bora, Reena Logoi (Assam), Nyayir Riba, Pupi Buchi (Arunachal Pradesh), Nirmala Devi, Urmila Devi Paswan, Sita Devi, Moti Devi, Meera Thakur (Bihar), Lamajei Kamei, Shangkanna Parainei (Manipur), Gouri Bala Das, Allma Khatun, Renu Murmu, Mani Mala Chitrakar, Seema Benarjee, Mangla Nandi (West Bengal) are from Eastern Cultural Zone, 5 women artisans named Manisha Swami (Rajasthan), Sara Ibrahim, Dai Ben Khema, Bharati Ben (Gujarat), Manki Bapu Vaida (Maharashtra) from Western Cultural Zone, 12 artisans named Shafiyano Pawle, Chaiti Netam, Jaimati Coram (Chhattisgarh), Jebunisa, Gaytri Bai, Pavan Singh, Krishna Verma, Manisha Bajaj, Vandana Tiwari, Shanti Bai Marabu, Godawari Soni, Nanhi Bai Marko (Madhya Pradesh) from Central Cultural Zone, 4 artisans named Nazima Khalid (Uttar Pradesh), Pramila Bodh, Dinesh Kumari (Himachal Pradesh), Ritu Sharma (Haryana) are from North Cultural Zone, and 8 artisans named M. Muniratnamma, Suwali Bai Banjara, A. Rama Devi (Andhra Pradesh), Bhavani Natraja, Saraswati Ishwar Nayak (Karnataka), Arphi Begam, Sandhya Rani (Odisha), G. Nagarattham (Tamil Nadu) are representing the South Cultural Zone. 

These Indian women artisans are being accompanied with 11 Delhi based young practicing artists named Anjali Goel, Anjali Sinha, Chetna Verma, Gunjan Tyagi, Him Rajni, Neha Grewal, Nisha Aggarwal, Ranjeeta Kumari, Renu Bariwal, Ritu Manchanda and Sabia, who are directed to imbibe their ongoing/existing visual art styles/language with any of the above artisan’s work as they individually wish to. By this way, various thought processes, languages, and styles would transform their appearances while coming in close connection and interaction with various folk and tribal art forms. We wish this modulating process of mingling up will be resulted in experimental coalesced new art forms, which may generate some new future horizons for folk and tribal arts in contemporary times.

Queering Making: Exhibition, Histories and Potential

Painting used as poster of 'Queering Making'

Few days back when I was not in Delhi, while scrolling down my facebook wall saw an event poster of ‘Queering Making’ with mustaches on a woman’s face at glance. The concept interested me and I wanted to have a look at the show, and it was good for me that it was a two part exhibition. The first part had its opening on November 24, 2012 for viewing until December 21, 2012 at Gallery Engendered Space, Shahpurjat, New Delhi and second part of the show opened on December 1, 2012 at Abadi Art Space, Lado Sarai, New Delhi which is on view till February 23, 2013.

Both parts of the show includes the art works of eight artists, Baaraan Ljlal, Jayanta Roy, Manmeet Devgun, Pratap Morey, Raghava K K, Shivani Aggarwal, Sumit Baudh and T Venkanna; Curated by Jose Abad Lorente, Myna Mukherjee and Billy Stewart, whereas the second part of the show repeats the five artists among eight. Exploring the questions of identity, gender and sexuality, and accessing them through memory and lived experiences are the objectives of the show, which it tries to explore through paintings, photographs, mixed media installations and performances all together.

The Part-II also continue cataloging the objects, photos, audio pieces and visual memories invited as ‘individual memorabilia donations’ from Part-I and present them as an open archive, creating ‘a Queer Contemporary museum’ at the gallery. The idea behind inviting these queer memorabilia was to make the exhibition an interactive space, as Individuals/visitors could bring photographs, objects, pieces of audio/visual memories that have a personal story attached to them and to make part of the exhibition. For example people from the LGBT community has given a dwarf-sized ‘peepal tree’ to tie threads around it for wish-fulfillment and a baby doll was gifted by one queer partner to the other was preserved for a child that they were going to adopt.

Manmeet Devgun's Work

Shivani Aggarwal's Work

The exhibition tries to put up certain questions like, what defines queer? Does the decision to oppose dominant rules in society and not follow stereotypes make someone queer? Or is it someone who has a different sexual orientation? Can art that does not explicitly address queer topics reflect the identity of its maker in other ways? Apart from these questions at beginning level, a visitor who doesn’t know about the ‘Queer’ and its historical aspects may not have enjoyed/understood about the notions it tries to explore. So, the first question one needs to understand is what ‘Queer’ really means? 

The word ‘Queer’ was once commonly understood to mean ‘strange’, ‘odd’, ‘unusual’, ‘abnormal’ or ‘sick’ and was routinely applied to lesbians and gay men as a term of abuse, which later on associated with the word ‘theory’ and ‘Queer theory’ is a field of poststructuralist critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of the fields of queer studies and women studies. Queer theory heavily influenced by the work of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Judith Butler, and Lauren Berlant. A primary concern in queer theory is the manner in which gender and sexuality is discussed. To think about new texts it was not merely necessary, but to think about them in radically new ways is necessary.

Queer theory explores issues of sexuality, power, and marginalized populations (woman as other) in literature, culture and society. Much of the work in queer theory, while influenced by feminist criticism, emerges from post-structural interest in fragmented, de-centered knowledge building (Nietzsche, Derrida, Foucault), language (the breakdown of sign-signifier), and psychoanalysis (Lacan). Therefore, queer theory is uncomfortable with the binary established by many feminist scholars between masculine and feminine as Hélène Cixous (following Derrida in ‘Of Grammatology’) sets up a series of binary oppositions (active/passive, sun/moon, father/mother, logos/pathos etc.). Each pair can be analyzed as a hierarchy in which the former term represents the positive and masculine and the latter the negative and feminine principle.

So, queer theory is interested in the breakdown of binaries such as male and female, the in-betweens. For example, queer theory maintains that cultural definitions of sexuality and what it means to be male and female and it believes that the distinction between ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ activities and behavior is constantly changing. It tells us the inefficiency of language to convey a complex notion as identity, especially an identity based on sexuality. It effectively re-opens the question of the relations between sexuality and gender, both as analytic categories and as lived experiences; and criticizes the gender and sexuality from narrowly conceived notions of lesbian and gay identity.

One can say, ‘Queer theory is a set of ideas based around the idea that identities are not fixed and do not determine who we are. It suggests that it is meaningless to talk in general about 'women' or any other group, as identities consist of so many elements that to assume that people can be seen collectively on the basis of one shared characteristic is wrong. Indeed, it proposes that we deliberately challenge all notions of fixed identity, in varied and non-predictable ways.’

As it heavily influenced by the Ideas given by Judith Butler, as she says, ‘There is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender, identity is performatively constituted by the very ‘expressions’ that are said to be its results.' In other words, gender is a performance; it’s what you do at particular times, rather than a universal who you are. This idea of identity as free-floating, as not connected to an 'essence', but instead a performance, is one of the key ideas in queer theory. Seen in this way, our identities, gendered and otherwise, do not express some authentic inner ‘core’ self but are the dramatic effect (rather than the cause) of our performances.

Here, in concern of this exhibition visual artists come together to address this notion of ‘Queer’ through an art exhibition, in which they explore questions pertaining to identity, gender and sexuality. They have revisited the word queer to give it a larger context: of finding alternative forms of resistance to a hetero-normative society. In words of Curator Mayna Mukherjee, ‘Anyone can be queer- a single woman deciding not to get married or a woman deciding not to wear pink.’

The exhibited works lie between abstraction and representation and mark a flexible space for the expression of all aspects of non-/anti-/contra-straight cultural production and reception, as artist Baaran Ijlal’s works from her series ‘The trouble with the Red Is’ where a pregnant woman with mustaches is a strong image which seems breaking down the ‘feminine’ identity. This work reminds me of British artist and photographer Zoe Lionard’s 1995 work ‘Pin-up #1 (Jennifer Miller does Marilyn Monroe), in which as a result of the disorder of ‘hirsutism’ the growth of excessive body hair on a woman has shown. The graceful pose of this female model makes viewer aware of expectations about gender roles and also puts a comments on the norms of hairlessness in today’s visual culture. Similarly, Baaran’s other works having military boys in uniform and female underwear; or a boy putting on stockings crosses their comfort zones crying out their stories.

Baaran Ijlal's Work

Baaran Ijlal's work

Zoe Lionard’s 1995 work
‘Pin-up #1 (Jennifer Miller does Marilyn Monroe)

Manmeet Devgun presents herself as a subject to represent her identity, personal life and the ways that she experiences sex, social rules and her life circumstances. Her work ‘Odonil’ is a series of six photographs, in which she looks ‘normal’ at first glance, but the work tells her own story as she puts on a wig and changes her identity. This way the work resembles a movie scene, a personal reflection on transforming oneself. These notions of identity, desire and visual representation are scattered all around our lives and society, need is to recognize and to define.

In India where openness in talk about sexual things is a point of prohibition somewhere, there are certain rituals, festivals which give a social authority to talk about these certain matters. Where even in country sex education and co-education (in some backward villages) in schools has been a controversial subject to say it right or not, a ritualistic atmosphere of marriage gives a kind of authority to the old aged women to talk about these things. They do it in slightly different manner even by abusing or commenting waywardly. So, isn’t these sexual comments by old ladies of house comes under their queer behavior? In general terms they are against the accepted norms of the society but this space of social gathering in some ritualistic manner (because in India marriages are considered as a ritual/religious institution) they are normally accepted. 

A similar behavior could be seen in other example of the satsang/kirtan generally organized at houses by housewives in order to give tribute to their concerned God/Goddess. These kinds of gatherings are organized by some religious purposes but at the same time they are occasion of a complete get together with all family members and friends etc. And the dance of ladies of all age groups on the music/words of religious songs (Bhajans) is a thing comes easily to watch. Whether purpose is ritualized but gaze on their bodies works here in similar manner, so clearly it shows the ‘queer’ here. A festival of ‘Shringar Rasa’ Holi also shows the same thing as stated above. And we generally come to hear the incidents of coming of ‘devi’ in women which starts to act like devi (Durga, Kali etc.) and all the old aged/senior members even starts worshiping these ladies. This behavior of women shows their repressed desires to achieve power/authority.

Some dance forms and nukkad nataks also has these kind of ‘queer’ things within themselves. For instance one of famous dance form of Orissa ‘Gotipua’ is executed by a boy or a group of boys but in female costumes. In Oriya language, ‘Goti’ means ‘single’ and ‘Pua’ means ‘boy’. For centuries, the Gotipua dance has been performed in Orissa by young boys who dress up as female to praise Lord Jagannath and Lord Krishna. The actual form of the dance is executed by a group of boys who perform acrobatic figures inspired by the life of Radha & Krishna. The boys start to learn dance at an early age until the adolescence, when their androgynous look is fading.

Similarly classical dance-drama of Kerala, in Kathakali man dances as a female and we can take ‘Tamasha’ of Maharashtra to form another good example of ‘queer’. Tamasha is a traditional Marathi folk art form often with singing and dancing, widely performed by local or travelling theatre groups within the state of Maharashtra, India. In all these examples we see the rituals/religion gives an authority to queer behaviors/acts and in country like India it became more important to talk about these issues. 

A scene of Gotipua dance of Orissa

Kathakali dance of Kerala

Tamasha dance of Maharashtra

Apart from these things, the call for gender trouble has obvious media implications, since the mass media is the primary means for alternative images to be disseminated. The media is therefore the site upon which the 'semiotic war' (a war of symbols, of how things are represented) has taken place. And another reason is mass media talks about or shows mostly fixed identities so queer theory also talks about mass media and popular culture.

Mostly in commercial movies/films we see some accepted and expected norms about bodies of film stars, as being a popular body film star represents an iconic image in audience’s mind. Released in some recent years a movie named ‘Om Shanti Om’ introduced Shahrukh Khan as a Six Packed shirtless body to us. Although during the earlier years of Hindi Cinema actor like Amitabh Bhachchan didn’t have any problem with shirted/covered body image. Because he was the accepted body of his time and today’s actor/stars are more concerned in creating/developing the ‘expected’ desires of viewers. 

Six packed/Shirtless Image of Shahrukh Khan

Amitabh's famous/excepted shirted/covered Image 

Popular media like television, cinema, films etc. creates an iconic body image in audience mind. Like you should zero size figured like Kareena Kapoor, you should have brown eyes like Hritik Roshan etc. if you want to have a perfect/desirable body. But these things are merely created for attract people which brings their own identity into passiveness. These unnatural notions of popular media and popular image directly shows the ‘queerness’. For example writer Ashok Rao states in his book ‘Yarana’ that film actresses are desirable bodies but you cannot touch them, what you can do is only willing about them so it brings Homosexual feeling in mind of audience.

Kareena Kapoor as Zero sized figure 

This kind of Homosexual feel we can clearly see in one of currently extremely popular song acted by actress Kaitreena Kaif, ‘Sheela ki Jawani…’ In lyrics of the song words acted by Kaif, ‘Kisi or ki mujhko jarurat kya...Main to khud se pyar jatau...’ is one of direct aspect of Homosexuality and also brings the Narcissistic tendencies of the character.

Kaitreena Kaif in song 'Sheela ki Jawani'

Queer recognizes the impossibility of moving outside current conceptions of sexuality. Queer theory suggests negotiating these limits. We can think about how these boundaries are not merely the fact that they exist, but also how they are created, regulated, and contested. As Judith Butler talks about shifting identities of Gender, men have feminine qualities and women have masculine qualities within. We can see few iconic images in Indian politics those had a power of masculine character within their female identities like of Indira Gandhi, Kiran Bedi and one other can be Benazir Bhutto also who was president of Pakistan. 

Indira Gandhi

Kiran Bedi

Benazir Bhutto

In the time period of Bhakti Movement in Indian literature we may take example of an iconic figure of Meerabai, who is known of her devotion towards lord Krishna. We know very well that Meerabai was a child widow and if we put the desires of love of a young woman, it may find the practical reasons of that devotion of Meera towards Krishna. In form of religious love a young widow can find her desires within her God; and here religion has given authority to its devotee. This is somewhat the queer behavior of Meerabai in that time’s social and political circumstances. This positioning of Meerabai as an iconic figure in Indian history one can trace over the images of Mahatama Gandhi and Mahadevi Verma as well, but they give nationalistic connotations. Mahatama Gandhi is known as a father of nation and Mahadevi Verma is known for her nationalistic writings and poetry in Hindi Literature.

Meerabai: Devotee of Lord Krishna

Mahatama Gandhi

Mahadevi Verma

Queer describes those gestures or analytical models which dramatize incoherencies in the allegedly stable relations between chromosomal sex, gender and sexual desire. Resisting those models of stability which claims heterosexuality as its origin, queer focuses on mismatches between sex, gender and desire. Institutionally, queer has been associated most prominently with lesbian and gay subjects, but its analytic framework also includes such topics as cross-dressing, hermaphroditism, gender ambiguity and gender-corrective surgery. As transvestite performance or academic deconstruction, queer locates and exploits the incoherencies in those terms which stabilize heterosexuality. Demonstrating the impossibility of any ‘natural’ sexuality, it calls into question even such apparently unproblematic terms as 'man' and 'woman'.

Queer is always an identity under construction, a site of permanent becoming, ‘utopic in its negativity, queer theory curves endlessly toward a realization that its realization remains impossible’  The extent to which different theorists have emphasized the unknown potential of queer suggests that its most enabling characteristic may well be its potential for looking forward without anticipating the future. And that has done by ‘Queering Making’ in context of an art exhibition.

The examples cited above are the courtesy of class lectures taken by Asst. Professor Mrinal Kulkarni.