New Delhi, Oct 21 Artist and photographer Raihan Vadra, the son of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Robert Vadra, on Wednesday said the Bikaner House administration pulled down many of his pictures of the recent Delhi protests ahead of a solo exhibition.
The show, titled “No Idea is Final”, was previewed on Wednesday and opens on Thursday.
Raihan said he was told at 3.30 pm that if the images are not taken down by 5 pm, the show will be cancelled.
He said he had shared the detailed proposal and layout of the show well in advance with the Bikaner House management. Bikaner House went ahead and took down some of the pictures.
Priyanka Vadra termed it ridiculous and “muzzling” of the voice of the youth across the nation.
“Today it’s him, tomorrow it’ll be another artist,” she told PTI.
A Bikaner House official said “they were not authorised to comment”.
Two large rooms on the first floor of Bikaner House’s CCA building were shorn of any activity as about 74 photographs were taken down a few hours ago.
Naked nails on the red walls, where the photos were hanging till a few hours ago, painted a solemn picture. The Preamble of the Constitution ran along the empty walls.
“They told us at 3.30 pm today if the images are not taken down by 5 pm, the show will be cancelled. They said it is not the right time for such photos to be shown,” Raihan told PTI.
He said none of the images “gave out any political message and only documented the protests over the last six months”.
“I felt it is my duty as an Indian artist, not just because I am doing a show right now, but it is my duty as an Indian artist to document what is going on… They are censoring the work of artists, I don’t know what they are scared of. They even went to the extent of removing the picture of the Indian flag,” he added.
When asked the reason for the photographs being removed, Raihan claimed that the Bikaner House administration said “given the current context and political climate in India, this is not the right time to show those images”.
“So I made the argument that first of all, you can’t say don’t show political art because all art is political. There is no art without politics,” he said.
His mother was livid.
“I think it’s ridiculous. What do you think? He is a young boy but I suppose you know, they are muzzling the voice of the youth across the nation. So it’s only expected that they’ll do it to anyone,” Priyanka Vadra said.
“His photographs of the protests, not a single commentary, not a single thing that was either derogatory towards anyone, just a visual documentation of the protest. So, I mean, clearly this is the way they think. It’s not a democracy anymore. Today it’s him, tomorrow it’ll be another artist,” she said.
Over 100 photographs of wildlife, abstract works and street photography of the recent youth movements in India were initially part of the show.
“Yesterday at 6 pm I was contacted by the management of Bikaner House, raising objections towards the ‘political nature’ of the protest images and was requested to remove them,” Raihan added in a statement made available to PTI.
“I made it clear that in view of the fact that I had shared the detailed proposal and layout of the show well in advance with the Bikaner House management it was incorrect on their part to request the removal of 50% of the artworks less than 24 hours before the opening of the show,” he said.
The exhibition, which continues till Sunday, goes on as scheduled. While about 40 pictures are still on display, more than 70 have been pulled down.
(PTI News)
