HYDERABAD: Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF) 2022 began virtually with a mind-boggling perspective where renowned vocalist TM Krishna stressed that the “world of art is not unified, it is a divided one.” True, art is believed to make us understand what we don’t know or offers us a perspective that we haven’t thought about -- it completes the picture of understanding -- its job is to make us whole, unified and connected. But the Covid-19 pandemic was all about dividing people.
TM Krishna believes that art, especially performing art, requires physical space, an audience. “The irony of the pandemic was that while migrant workers were struggling to go home, artistes were struggling to get out. Artistes are normal people who earn their bread performing in front of people. Above all, there was no space for inspiration,” the vocalist said, in conversation with Amita Desai, founder-director of Goethe-Zentrum Hyderabad.
“The art market is very local -- not every artistes has the opportunity to share their work online. Besides, digital media is manipulated by those in power and technological fixes cannot do justice to the art,” TM Krishna added, shortly after paying a soulful performance - a tribute to Ajay Gandhi, one of the key members of HLF, who passed away last year.
He further added, “People mistake the availability of time with freedom, but that’s not the case. The psychological state of being at leisure is freedom. Art is not leisure, it’s hard work that doesn’t always sell. We have replaced the kings of aeons with bifurcates, politicians, event managers and corporate authorities. There is no freedom.”
Meanwhile, the discussion ‘Amritsar: A City in Remembrance’ by photographer Raghu Rai and architect Gurmeet Rai in conversation with prof. Usha Raman was no less eye-opener. The book retraces the history and culture of Amritsar through landmark events that shaped the city and its people.
“Conservation is not only about the recovery of the building. It is also about recovering the dignity of the people,” said Gurmeet Rai. She further explained, “’Heritage’ is the physical manifestation of culture and culture is a living, dynamic process. The work we’ve done is primarily to recover heritage destroyed during the colonial period.”
“I think that,” she further added, “if you destroy the building as an act of subjugation of a community, the recovery of the building is the recovery of the people, historic narrative, and cultural narrative.” When asked about inspiration Raghu Rai, said, “Photo exhibitions are temporary. My faith lies in the eyes of the people I capture. Book is a permanent record of what we discovered.”
Virtual Exhibitions inaugurated on