CHENNAI: Censorship is the sword of Damocles that hangs over every creator’s head. You never know what could trigger someone enough to demand banning something you’ve painstakingly created over months. Calls to boycott are in fact the mildest forms of censorship.
The creation could be burnt and roasted, the creator could be forced to seek cover in alien lands and a strange union of people who react based on hearsay is often temporarily founded to fuel the fury.
Everyone miraculously has an opinion on the subject and many social media battles are fought with no winners or losers. The only thing lost perhaps is one’s sanity!
In India, censorship is certainly not a new phenomenon. It was enforced through the Press Act of 1910 by the colonial powers, to limit the freedom to express dissent in visual forms.
But artists back then, found other alternative forms, one of them being prints which had religious iconography. This was considered harmless by the British and so cleverly used to spread the spirit of rebellion. However, it was not long before the authorities caught up with the trick and banned them. For instance, the image of Goddess Durga conquering evil was used to signify the future defeat of the British.
Bengali artist’s Chittaprosad’s sketches of the Bengal famine were banned and all copies of the booklet in which it was published were destroyed. Nothing much changed soon after the country’s Independence, except that there was a shift from censorship on political grounds to ones based on morality.
In a 1949 exhibition, a nude self portrait by FN Souza, one of India’s most famous artists, was first covered up by the police and later seized. His studio was raided and his works almost labelled as pornography. The years that followed too, were never kind to creative spirits.
Line drawings that India’s most acknowledged artist MF Husain drew in the 70’s, provoked violent outbursts decades later in the 90’s, after being misinterpreted as vulgar.
The artist had to sadly live and die in exile, never setting foot in this country that today celebrates his work and life. In 2007, a work on display by a student at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Baroda had to face severe criticism for hurting religious sentiments and the artist was besieged with numerous legal cases. In 2012, a photography exhibition in Delhi, by Sunil Gupta had to be cancelled after an objection to the nudity in them.
If you think that it’s only our nation that has a conservative lens to view art, the truth is that no country has ever been spared from the long arms of censorship. Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, has constantly been at the receiving end for his politically critical works.
Barcelona even has a museum dedicated to prohibited art. Contemporary times have been particularly hard on artists and writers as we slowly evolve into an intolerant society.
Laws are interpreted according to the whims of those in power. And yet, artists brave the intimidation to continue to speak fearlessly, because art and literature are the vocal cords of society. No censorship can ever silence that!