Eighteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

How can a former British-colony, a country as racially, ethnographically and socially diverse and with a varied culture such as India break away from its obsession with and inferiority complex from the West? The baggage of colonization didn’t wane with the end of British rule. In fact, the early leaders of independent India looked to the west — just as people do today for inspiration. How did this land with a five-thousand-year-old ebullient civilization which arguably gained its freedom through the mass craft movement of khadi and self-reliance, insist on setting up its design and art institutions by the proponents of the rigid rule-bound Bauhausian and Swiss International Style? This presentation gives an overarching context of the visual arts in India with a look at some recent works that are outside the purview of the mainstream art canon which seems to be driven by Western capitalist forces. Instead, the works shown address some of the topics such as social, political and ecological issues head on. Some works features are interested in breaking various social boundaries and are more activist than capitalist in nature. Focussed not so much on the aesthetic value per se but on the larger meaning and impact it can hope to garner. As a creative practice showcase, examples of work highlight various aspects of the study.