00:00Can you describe, you know, what really happened last afternoon?
00:05Because we were informed that you were going to hold an exhibition
00:08about the, you know, photographs of the ongoing protest in the national capital.
00:14What really transpired for?
00:16So actually, my exhibition was, I was holding an exhibition for the first time after three years.
00:24And it wasn't just about the protest, but it was an exhibition of my body of works
00:31taken over the last three works, three years.
00:36In that, I had two rooms, you know, which had a huge amount of photos, 74 photos,
00:43which documented not just protests, but youth movements and street photography
00:48over the last year or so.
00:50You know, it included pictures from Jantar Mantar,
00:55it included pictures from the last few weeks of protests,
00:59but also just general street photography in Delhi.
01:05I, you know, had shared a layout with Beacon Air House last week on the 15th of October.
01:11They responded to the layout saying, note it.
01:15They yesterday told me that, oh, that layout was not legible, we couldn't see it.
01:20So I said, yeah, you didn't tell me, you know, I would have sent you a better layout,
01:24we could have had this conversation a week earlier.
01:27But they, 24 hours before my show opened on the 20th of October,
01:33they reached out to me and said, some of these pictures may be
01:39objectionable or against our booking policy.
01:41I said, I am not inclined to remove any of these.
01:45But if you really have a problem, you can give it to me in writing.
01:49And you can, you know, explain which are the photos that you have a problem with and why.
01:53And then we can discuss, maybe I'll replace a few.
01:56They said, okay, we'll get back to you.
01:58I never heard back from them until around 2 p.m. on 21st of October,
02:02which was the day my exhibition was opening.
02:05They then said, you have to remove all of these.
02:08I said, I said, listen, it's five hours to go for my exhibition.
02:12What am I going to put there?
02:13You can't, you know, I had given you the information.
02:15You've raised this objection very late.
02:19Then they, the head of, who runs Beacon Head House, he came,
02:25the principal resident commissioner, and he gave me an explanation that
02:30because of the context and the timing of what is happening in India and in Delhi,
02:36that makes these works political in nature,
02:39and therefore, they're against the policy.
02:42So, I tried to argue that how can timing or outside context make artwork political,
02:50and that's not in their policy.
02:51But anyways, they did not listen,
02:54and I got a notice at around 3.30 p.m.
02:58saying that if you don't remove the artwork, 74 artworks, by 4 p.m.,
03:02you will have to, we will have to cancel the exhibition and seal the building.
03:08So, then we flipped the photos.
03:10So, you know, we, the back of the frame was, was facing the viewer
03:15so that you couldn't see the photo.
03:17We did that for all the photos.
03:19They came and said, no, this does not work.
03:22You have to take them down.
03:24Merely flipping them does not work.
03:26So, we took them down, piled them up on the side of the room.
03:28They said, no, you have to put them in storage.
03:31I objected to, there were two photos, which there was just the Indian flag.
03:36There were other photos of the Indian flag, which had, you know, other people, etc.
03:40But there were two photos, which were just of the Indian flag.
03:43I said, you cannot object to these.
03:45How can you object to just a photo of the Tiranga?
03:48So, they first tried to take a, tell us to take it down.
03:51I said, no, you give it to me in writing,
03:53and you write that you are wanting me to take down a picture of the Indian flag.
03:58They never gave that to me in writing.
04:00They left one photo up.
04:01I went home to change for the opening.
04:05But as soon as I left the premises, they went in and took it down.
04:08And I have a video of them taking down that picture.
04:14Yeah, so that was, that was the, and then, you know, we left the walls.
04:19But as an individual artist, as an upcoming photographer, how do you view this as an artist, you know, artistic
04:26point of view?
04:27You know, removing 70 to 80% of your collection, which you're saying you've worked for almost three years.
04:33I feel, you know, it's basically, I was quite surprised.
04:37I worked in Beacon Air House, you know, I did my first show there in 2021.
04:44I've regularly, I don't think I've skipped a year in which I have done a show there.
04:47You know, and I've always considered it to be a space where any artist should be able to come in,
04:56you know, voice their, platform their voice and be able to express themselves about anything.
05:06You know, I think any type of curtailing of art is wrong.
05:11I would understand if there's a, if, you know, if there is something that's a little too overtly political, that,
05:16you know, there are slogans being put or that, you know, there's graphic nudity in some artworks, that, that is
05:23understandable.
05:26But, you know, just blanket removing 75 photos because they may be objectionable to somebody does not work.
05:34You know, and, and it's wrong.
05:36Then you can't call yourself a cultural institution or you can't call yourself a stakeholder in the arts if you're
05:43going to curtail freedom of expression.
05:45And what is the way forward now?
05:48Has it been taken completely down?
05:50You're going to continue with it?
05:51You're going to look for any failure?
05:53So, so obviously I had, I had two flaws in the exhibition.
05:57And, and, you know, me and my team had worked quite hard to, to put it together.
06:01So I obviously didn't want to go down the route where they would cancel the entire show and we'd end
06:07up with showing nothing.
06:09So the, the two rules that had the object, allegedly objectionable images, those we have taken down.
06:19And the rest of the exhibition is continuing till Sunday.
06:23And those images I'm finding, I'm trying to find a place in Delhi where I can exhibit them.
06:29My, this exhibition anyways, travels to Bangalore in December.
06:32So they'll be on view there.
06:34But I'm trying to find a place in Delhi that I can exhibit them in the next month or so.
06:38I'm trying to find a place in Delhi that I'm trying to find a place in Delhi that I'm trying
06:38to find a place in Delhi that I'm trying to find a place in Delhi that I'm trying to find
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06:38find a place in Delhi that I'm trying to find a place in Delhi that I'm trying to find a
06:38place in Delhi that I'm trying to find a place in Delhi that I'm trying to find a place in
06:38Delhi that I'm trying to find a place in Delhi that I'm trying to find a place in Delhi that
06:38I'm trying to find a place in Delhi that I'm trying to find a place in Delhi that I
