For my research project I plan on looking into contemporary art in India. My question of inspiration is: How has the meaning of visual art shifted as the country approaches a more globalized state? During fall semester of last year, I took a class on Hinduism and we read a book called Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India by Diana L. Eck, which examines the connection between spirituality and religious imagery. I have always been passionate about art, and would like to take the knowledge I already have into a more interdisciplinary project. I want to focus on how the subjects artists portray in their works may have transformed throughout India’s history, and what kinds of artists are surfacing in the present. Has art changed from holding spiritual meaning (what Darsan suggests) to becoming a catalyst for social revolution? Is religion still a main concept artists infuse into their pieces? I’m hoping to specify my project further by looking into feminist artists and what kinds of mindsets they are representing through artwork. Are women challenging old systems through visual expression, and if so, are there any political consequences?
I believe that art poses relevance everywhere. Although there are many definitions of what “art” may be, I don’t think that it necessarily needs to be one thing as long as whoever creates it does so with passion and mindfulness. Since India encompasses such a “visual culture” as Eck describes in her book, I don’t find much difficulty with locating art in any of the cities we will be visiting. However, it will be interesting to compare and contrast art through the lenses of rural versus urban, as well as gender, religion, and politics (especially within the context of regionalism, which is so specific to the structure of India). Another question I may pose is: Do individuals in the different regions/cities believe that art should be transforming along with India’s ensuing globalization, or should it stay traditional?
As far as people that I plan on interviewing, I would like to try and find a few local artists in each of the cities we will be staying in. Along with well-known artists, perhaps one or two individuals interested in a radical form of creating social change, such as public artwork. As far as demographics, I want to try and focus on female artists and women in general to further specify my research and the issues I discuss. There could be a completely different set of questions when it comes to women and creating revolution through art. As far as field research, my main question is: Where might art be brought out in the public, and what is its level of acceptance? While we travel, I’d make note of various forms of art, (murals, graffiti, banners, etc.) where it is, and the kind of person it may cater to. I want to visit museums and temples as well to understand the history behind India’s art, and also to find a few renowned names for contemporary art.
However, I want serendipity to stay a large part in my project. I think one of the main aspects of art for change is the spontaneity and temporariness of how artists articulate messages about social systems. At least in the United States, radical art forms are usually very brief, and are eventually washed away by the power of our embedded structures. I want to see what kinds of conversations contemporary art brings in reference to globalizing Indian culture, and what kinds of people are starting those conversations.
Desai, Jigna. Rajan, Gita. (2013). Transnational Feminism and Global Advocacy in South Asia. Routledge: London, New York.
This book connects feminism to social revolution in the area we will be studying in, which will help contextualize my research geographically.
Eck, Diana L. (1998). Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image In India. Columbia University Press.
This book will contribute to the historical and spiritual understanding of Indian art, and the esoteric meaning divine imagery holds for Hindus.
Jayati Lal, Kristin McGuire, Abigail J. Stewart, Magdalena Zaborowska and Justine M. Pas. (2010). Recasting Global Feminisms: Toward a Comparative Historical Approach to Women’s Activism and Feminist Scholarship. Feminist Studie, Vol. 36.
This journal article further places women into the context of activism and education. It can help answer my question of how might women be using art as a means of change, and what kinds of conceptual background is necessary to understand why?
Lucie-Smith, Edward. (1984). Movements in Art Since 1945. Thames and Hudson: London.
The book offers a historical background of the various art movements in post-modernity, including India, which may aid in narrowing down the kinds of art revolutions I want to research (music, visual, theatrical among others).
Lynes, Krista Geneviéve. (2012). Prismatic Media, Transnational Circuits. Palgrave Macmillan.
This source discusses experimental media forms as an important contribution to political struggles during times of globalization. It will help give me the conceptual framework I need to start my own conversation of how contemporary artwork in India relates to its own global transformation.
Reinhartz, Shulamit. Elinor W. Gadon. Wendy Kaplan. Roobina Karode. (2007). Tiger By the Tail! Women Artists of India Transforming Culture. Waltham, MA : Women’s Studies Research Center, Brandeis University ; New Delhi : Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
This book will help with my project’s intended lens of focusing on women artist’s in India, as well as give me ideas as to what kinds of art forms I want to look at during the course of my research.
Sumathi, Ramaswamy. (2008). Maps, Mother/Goddesses, and Martyrdom in Modern India. The Journal of Asian Studies.
As far as detailed topics for my project, I’m not exactly sure what themes I want to focus on when it comes to contemporary art asides from the role of women. This essay may help further hone my understanding of the importance of motherhood in India, and how it is represented visually.
Tamhane, Swapnaa. (2011). The Performative Space: Tracing the Roots of Performance-Based Work in India. International Contemporary Art, Issue 110.
As far as radical art forms, performance tends to be pretty effective and widely used. This article follows the history of performance in India, from the more obvious form of dance to the less so individuals on the streets going about their daily lives. It could help shift my understanding of what might be considered “performance” or “art” and look into the more subtle expressions of both.
Urvashi, Dalal. (2015). Femininity, State and Cultural Space in Eighteenth-century India. The Medieval History Journal, Vol. 18(1).
From its description, this book discusses the symbolism of women as factors of the country’s political and cultural impact in the city of Delhi. It talks about the decline of the Mughal Empire and how that affected the presence of women in society, which may still be relevant in India today.
Zinn, Howard. (2001). Artists of Resistance. The Progressive.
What kinds of artists in the past have been resistant to society, and how have they demonstrated their feelings? In his article, Zinn writes about the qualities an artist with radical ideas might have, which would serve as useful contexts for what kinds of ideologies I might look for in my topic.
List of activities/interviews/intentions that were had, but not necessarily successful in Delhi:
September 4th: Went to the Triveni Open Air Gallery on an independent field trip as well as the Lalit Kala Academy
Highlights: Went to an art gallery across from Lalit Kala and found the contact information a potential artist to interview whose work was on exhibit.
September 10th: Visited/jotted field notes at the National Gallery of Modern Art with Marielle
Highlights: Found out about feminist artist Amrita Sher-Gil, and walked through the exhibit “…In the Seeds of Time,” which explored how Indian art developed along with socio-economic issues arising in each century (explored the 10th-20th centuries BCE).
September 18th: Visited the National Museum of Delhi
September 19th: Went to the Niv Art Center
Highlights: I was wandering around unlit office spaces, considering whether I was allowed to be in them or not, I ran into a man who works there as a curator. He sat me down in his office and started telling me a little bit about the center. When I told him about my project, he immediately began scrolling through the space’s website, showing me various artists who had work there. One of the main points I got from our conversation was his concept that there is a “gap” between the “art world and the real world.”
September 20th: Visited the National Gallery of Modern Art again to see the exhibits that I had missed out on the last time.
Towards the end I tried to schedule an interview with the Lalit Kala artist, but at the last minute she had to cancel. I wrote her a follow-up email asking some questions, but she has not gotten back to me.
Throughout my travels, I have been snapping photos of street art that I have seen, and will hopefully wind that into a discussion about the spaces art occupies and how it may transform based on being in a public or private sphere.
List of research activities carried out in Chennai
My research in Chennai consisted more of observations than actual visitations to specific art spaces. Since it’s such an agent of cultural and historical pride, Chennai has a thriving art scene-both with visual arts and performing arts. I have been focusing my project thus far are the visual aspect of art, but realized that the performing arts, especially Bharatanatyam dance, can aid in my contemporary/spiritual argument.
October 6th: Field trip to Fort St. George; questioned the upkeep of museums in Chennai and wondered how these spaces were maintained
October 10th: Visited a smaller communal village in Auroville and saw an example of how art can be freely created with not hindrances
October 15th: Met with Bruce and discussed my paper; shifted my focus on art spaces and how artists and the audience interact within those spaces.
October 21st: A. Srivasthan lecture: public art and government control over what kind of art should be viewed as a “representation” of Chennai
October 22nd: Visited the Cholamandal Artists’ Village and conversed with a Chennai citizen (originally from Ireland, but she has lived here for eight years) about government control over art and the shifting nature of the village because of urban transformation. She brought up the idea that “India is beginning to recognize its own wealth.”
List of research activities carried out in Banaras
November 13th: Met with Bruce about my project, discussed in detail specific questions I could use to hone in my project goal
What kinds of art are there in Banaras?
Who are the people that interact with it? Does it depend on the context?
November 16th: Visited the BHU Art Museum, contemplated the space, took notes on how it compares and contrasts to the museums I’ve seen in Delhi and Chennai.
November 18th: Conversed with a stone carver and his painter brother, showed me there work and talked briefly about how they view public art in Banaras; it serves as a message/can protect the space around it from vandalism (in their eyes). Later in the day we went on a boat ride and talked to a man afterwards who serves as treasurer of a heritage preservation NGO; he has a very different perspective on public art by saying it was illegal.
It was interesting to have those two differing conversations in one day, which led me to make some simple observations of how an individual artisan will discuss art versus someone paid in a government job.
November 19th-November 26th: Stayed in Ruchika’s homestay, a painter, Had some workshops with her, and learned of her religious representations of the ghats, Shiva, and Ganesh in her work.
November 22nd: Went to pick up a gift for my father at the stone carver’s, and had an interesting experience that dealt with internal family tension. The painter brother is very famous, and the stone carver did not want him to know about the piece he had made for me, so the exchange was done very under-the-table. It seemed like the stone carver was upset that his brother has so much media recognition, but, from his perspective, does not do any work with the shop.
November 23rd: Interviewed Suresh Kumar Nair, a painting professor at BHU. Further talked with him about public art and his personal goal of public art as a method of bringing awareness to “beautifying” and “aestheticizing” Banaras.