In April, two Indian artists Srishti Gupta and Akriti Choudhary were arrested for protesting with factory workers in Greater Noida, an industrial and manufacturing city close to New Delhi, the Art Newspaper reported Thursday.
Now, a Change.org petition is calling for their freedom along with six workers, who were also arrested on April 11. The petition which was started by a user called Shaleen Wadhwana four weeks ago has been signed by 2,345 people so far. (Wadhwana did not immediately answer an e-mail requesting further comment on the case.)
“When Srishti Gupta, or Akriti Chaudhary stood, or sat, or drew pictures on the tarmac, or sang songs or read poetry into the air, breathing life into their own imaginations, and in the imaginations of an assembly of workers in the middle of a highway in Noida in April this year, they did not know that they were committing a crime,” Wadhwana writes in the petition. She adds that in the judge’s understanding of the law, “an artist is ‘neither a worker, nor an employee’, and so the artist’s presence, which cannot be accounted for when it is seen unfolding in the middle of a wave of protestssweeping through Noida and elsewhere in the NCR, is itself the crime.”
In April in Noida, thousands of factory workers gathered to protest for fair wages and improved working conditions. The protestors blocked the roads and more than 300 people were arrested.
Gupta was arrested with Choudhary at a metro station in the evening in Noida. She live-streamed the incident on the Instagram account ofMazdoor Bigul, a monthly newspaper dedicated to workers’ rights in India that was launched in 2004. According to the Art Newspaper report, Gupta’s lawyer argued that her arrest was illicit and that no women police officers were present, which is a mandatory law when arresting women in India.
Solidarity with Gupta has been taking over India’s art scene by storm on social media. Artist Shuddhabrata Sengupta took to Instagram on 22 May to write that people like Gupta “should be free to practice their art, to contribute to society with their generous heart and imaginative mind, not be behind bars.” Graphic novel artist Parismita Singh said on her Instagram that she was inspired by what Sengupta wrote and that “at a time, when so many art projects provoke us to think and dream, to see this happen, is shocking yes, and also a reminder of how fragile our rights are. The right to protest. The right to solidarity. The right to draw. The right to make a poster. Paint a mural. I hope the judges in their wisdom allow for justice to take its course, and srishti and her friends are free soon.” Artist Maksud Ali Mondal also wrote that “if we do not speak up for artists like her today, then the voices and practices that stand with communities and resistance may slowly lose the solidarity and support they deserve.” (Ali Mondal was also contacted regarding any further update on Gupta and her case. He did not immediately answer.)
On July 24, Sengupta wrote an op-ed for The Wire, an Indian news website recounting his visit to Gupta in prison, where she was allocated 15 minutes to speak with him and other visitors. Sengupta took a sketchbook, a box of color pencils and a notebook to prison to give to Gupta, who told him that she had been painting and drawing in prison. She revealed to Sengupta that she was making portraits of her fellow inmates and teaching art workshops to the women and their children.
It has now been 117 days and counting since Gupta was arrested with Chaudhary six others.
