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No Country For Art?

By Arshie Qureshi

18 March, 2015
Countercurrents.org

Call it official High headedness or the apathy of the people, anyone who watched the vandalism at art gallery in Kashmir last month will point to you the underlying reality about art ignorance in the valley. It almost seems ironical that on one hand we dwell in a part of the world which is historically a crucible of rich cultural heritage, merging a strong sense of mysticism with the delicacies of nature. A place where everything manifests the divinity. And on the other hand, a man with a clueless look on his face frantically drags the delicate figurine out of the gallery and smashes it without a pang of remorse.

The episode descended into madness when of course, after potentially irreversibly damaging some of the most iconic items, like anyone, the perpetrator conceitedly shielded himself by saying that he was just following the orders of “authorities”. Here sets in the tragic realization that there is a large army of petrified mutants behind this madness of damaging the sophistications.

And by authority he implied government which was not in place at that point of time. So whose orders was he actually following? Whom do you ask? Who do you hold accountable for destroying the elegant sculpture in white that stood there?

None unfortunately. Nobody answers. All allege. They trash things and tell us that’s how the government works here.

Decades passed, governments changed, people vanished, new ones made their way, city expanded, got clustered with new multi storey buildings but what we failed carve out is a space for placing our artworks. Not that artists could not arrange for it but, by virtue of their appeal, artworks demand more. They demand to be seen, cherished and understood. Why then did we fail to shelter our artworks and inspire our young artists? And if there was a man making an attempt in the direction , why did someone jam his way?

They say power corrupts but more than that it dangerously petrifies. It petrifies as soon as it strokes you, even if in the slightest possible manner. The man who trashed the sculpture may not have a very powerful man back at his desk but here he had been given the authority by so called government hence he felt as if he were the greatest but in reality he was the Goliath.

I wish I could tell them that although the figurine might not be apparently vociferous, it is capable of speaking but some certainly are deaf to subtleties of its expression. Is this not madness to have a person handle it who is deaf to its squeaks?

Art is a wonderful value, people can love and own and make art. It might not end all wars , solve all crises, bring an upswing to economy but at the risk of being label a New Age Idealist I want to tell all that it certainly adds a flavor to our world. it is there to prevent us from falling into the pits of insanity. It’s like reading your favorite novel which, no matter how lengthy, never seems laborious. It’s like a whole story narrated on a canvas. Living in a world without it would be as dull as living in a world in which people are fatigued and detached.

Art has some frameworks and technique but most of all , it has a perspective, lighting, or what not. Artists spend years of training to perfect their technique and a lifetime in coming up with their master pieces. It has a whole system of symbolism that gives it a new shade of meaning.

Maybe I am romanticizing and that you don't love it as much. But you do cherish when your skills are referred to as being your “art”.

It will exist whether the gallery opens or not. It will exist whether we respect it or not. It will exist whether or not the wars end. It will exist because it has existed throughout history. Art is how people started communication. It will exist because it is meant to.

The writer is a student of Mass Communication and Journalism at University of Kashmir.






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