Art and freedom: what's the corelation?

To explore the theme of ‘art and freedom’, the ET Bureau’s Ashoke Nag speaks to many leading Indian artists. Here’s what they have to say: ‘Freedom of spirit is the ultimate’, renowned artist Jogen Chowdhury is quoted as saying in the ET news report by Ashoke Nag of the ET on the eve of India’s Independence Day.

While it is vital to free a country from a foreign power, it’s equally important to free people from social and economic suppression even after the country attains political freedom. He explains:

“While the country must be freed from the curse of poverty, women also must also be emancipated. Even in a developing country like ours, they will not flower without proper education and economic liberty. We only talk of the country’s independence from an outside power. But, what we need now is an individual’s social, economic and educational freedom.

"The freedom movement was a circumstantial phase in a country’s history. I have done quite a few drawings and paintings, expressing the dire need for the free domfrom injustice and atrocities. In fact, it’s not just India, I also painted on the torture of prisoners by American soldiers in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.”

While dwelling on the harsh everyday reality, he talks of attaining a state of freedom wherein man’s spirit must rise above the mundane to communicate with the higher state of spiritual being. Personalities such as Shri Aurobindo and Tagore have spoken about these experiences, he explains and terms it the root of rich Indian tradition and culture as well as the philosophy that underlies our religion.

Figurative artist Ramananda Bandopadhyay emphasizes that even though art is a window for spiritual and emotional release, in some ways, Indian art seems to be losing its very Indianness. He states, “Indians must regain their nationalist spirit to enter the global scene powered by their own strength.”