Overcoming conflict: Pakistan, India unite in art
Where politicians and diplomats have failed, artists hope to succeed
Rashid Rana and Shilpa Gupta. PHOTO COURTESY: THE GUARDIAN
Where politicians and diplomats have failed - artists hope to succeed. Pakistan and India are to be united at the Venice Biennale this year when a top contemporary artist from each nation will share an exhibit, in an unprecedented initiative aimed at bringing the two neighbours closer together.
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. Pakistan last exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1956 – while India had its first exhibition there four years ago.
The two participating artists are both stars of burgeoning contemporary art scenes in their respective countries. Rashid Rana, who lives and works in Lahore, is considered one of the most important current Pakistani artists and Mumbai-based Shilpa Gupta has had her work exhibited in London and in New York.
Their show - called My East is Your West - has been funded by an Indian private philanthropic organization, reported The Guardian. Needless to say the two governments - which have been exchanging intermittent artillery fire and verbal barbs for months – are not involved in this initiative.
During the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, at least 14 million people were displaced as Muslims fled to Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs headed to India. Up to a million people were killed in mob violence. “Partition hasn’t really been addressed at all in either nation,” said Gupta, whose previous work has investigated ideas of nationhood and frontiers.
“This is something coming from the art world”, she added. “We have just had [Barack] Obama in Delhi watching a huge parade of weapons and talking about nuclear power. So it’s wonderful to have this unofficial dream of peace,”
Rashid Rana, who will exhibit his works alongside Gupta at the Venice Biennale said the exhibition would be more about the south Asian region as a whole rather than just the complex relationship between India and Pakistan. He is “ interested in messing with time and location” and added that “as artists we can defy these borders,”
That artists and patrons are picking up where officials have failed is less surprising than it may seem to outsiders. Despite poverty, political instability and sometimes violence, artists from south Asia are beginning to make a global name for themselves, attracting interest from international buyers, curators and museum directors.
The venture, however, has been greeted with some skepticism - Kanwal Sibal, a former foreign secretary of India, said cultural initiatives could help “form a pool of public opinion “that could help improve relations between states, but little more”. He said: “It has some value, but in terms of true impact on policy it is less than marginal.”
The exhibition is being organised by the Gujral Foundation, and its co-founder, Feroze Gujral said, ““We just thought, let’s stop complaining about what others should be doing, let’s just do our best and say that from a common past and a divided present, we would like a peaceful future,”
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. Pakistan last exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1956 – while India had its first exhibition there four years ago.
The two participating artists are both stars of burgeoning contemporary art scenes in their respective countries. Rashid Rana, who lives and works in Lahore, is considered one of the most important current Pakistani artists and Mumbai-based Shilpa Gupta has had her work exhibited in London and in New York.
Their show - called My East is Your West - has been funded by an Indian private philanthropic organization, reported The Guardian. Needless to say the two governments - which have been exchanging intermittent artillery fire and verbal barbs for months – are not involved in this initiative.
During the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, at least 14 million people were displaced as Muslims fled to Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs headed to India. Up to a million people were killed in mob violence. “Partition hasn’t really been addressed at all in either nation,” said Gupta, whose previous work has investigated ideas of nationhood and frontiers.
“This is something coming from the art world”, she added. “We have just had [Barack] Obama in Delhi watching a huge parade of weapons and talking about nuclear power. So it’s wonderful to have this unofficial dream of peace,”
Rashid Rana, who will exhibit his works alongside Gupta at the Venice Biennale said the exhibition would be more about the south Asian region as a whole rather than just the complex relationship between India and Pakistan. He is “ interested in messing with time and location” and added that “as artists we can defy these borders,”
That artists and patrons are picking up where officials have failed is less surprising than it may seem to outsiders. Despite poverty, political instability and sometimes violence, artists from south Asia are beginning to make a global name for themselves, attracting interest from international buyers, curators and museum directors.
The venture, however, has been greeted with some skepticism - Kanwal Sibal, a former foreign secretary of India, said cultural initiatives could help “form a pool of public opinion “that could help improve relations between states, but little more”. He said: “It has some value, but in terms of true impact on policy it is less than marginal.”
The exhibition is being organised by the Gujral Foundation, and its co-founder, Feroze Gujral said, ““We just thought, let’s stop complaining about what others should be doing, let’s just do our best and say that from a common past and a divided present, we would like a peaceful future,”