NEW DELHI: Raihan Vadra has strongly objected to being asked to remove certain photographs from his exhibition ‘No Idea is final’ at the Bikaner House.
A day after detailing out the circumstances of being asked to remove photographs that allegedly included those of the Tricolour, Raihan told India Today News that curtailing of any form of art was wrong.
Speaking to India Today News network Raihan said, “I think any type of curtailing of art is wrong. I would understand if there is something that’s a little too overtly political that there are slogans being put, or that there’s graphic nudity in some artwork that is understandable. But just blanket removing 75 photos because they may be objectionable to somebody does not work. And it’s wrong. Then you can’t call yourself a cultural institution or a stakeholder in the arts if you’re going to curtail freedom of expression.”
Vadra claimed that the Bikaner House management had told him that some of the photographs were political in nature and thus against policy, however he maintains that he was informed of this only 24 hours before his show which opens later this evening.
“I had two rooms which had a huge amount of photos 74 photos which documented not just protests, but youth movements and street photography over the last year or so. It included pictures from Jantar Mantar, it included pictures from the last few weeks of protests, but also just general street photography in Delhi…The head who runs Bikaner House, the Principal Resident Commissioner, he gave me an explanation that because of the context and the timing of what is happening in India and in Delhi, that makes these works political in nature, and therefore, they are against the policy,” Vadra told India Today.
Raihan further claimed that two of the photographs objected to were just pictures of the Indian flag and that the management of Bikaner House had not given their reasoning for taking down the pictures in writing,
“There were two photos which were just the Indian flag. There were other photos of the Indian flag which had other people, etc., but there were two photos which were just of the Indian flag. I said, “You cannot object to these. How can you object to just a photo of the Tiranga?” So they first tried to tell us to take it down. I said, “No, you give it to me in writing, and you write that you are wanting me to take down a picture of the Indian flag.” They never gave that to me in writing,” he told India Today.
