<The Propagandist as an Artist: Myth, Meaning and Machine>

The piece is a result of a conversation with the visual artist, Anupam Roy. It elaborates on the parameters of his artwork, political ideology and the employment of myth. The latter part delves into the nuance of Anupam’s latest exhibition in Delhi- ‘Broken Cogs in the Machine’ and the intertwining of aesthetics and resistance. 

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Anupam Roy, hailing from Kankpul village in West Bengal is a contemporary visual artist based out of Delhi. His initial foray into art practice took place in 2008 in the premises of Bengal Fine Arts College, Chandpara while the political movements of Singur and Nandigram against land acquisition were gaining mass momentum. Roy does not imitate these historical moments though his practice remains informed by them. His artwork  relegates the cityscape to scenes grounded in alternative indigenous possibilities. This is especially visible in the employment of myth in his work. Anupam inculcates no direct referencing to any dominant mythology, however, the concept of myth does exist in the images. He says, 

One has to see the relationship between myth and image from a historical perspective. Then it will be easy to understand the constructed reality in it. Also one can see how myth and image are related through certain historic and cultural shapes. Geographically connected mythology can change the meaning of the work. An understanding that is mostly related to a universal meaning in art is problematic therefore. The image of Ram and its related mythology varies in different cultures and geography. But when a political regime wants to universalize the image of Ram for its own propaganda then one has to see it historically. 

Another example can be drawn from one of his works, titled ‘Conservation’ in which the depiction of various animalistic traits reflects a symbolism. 

The monitor lizard is currently an endangered species in West Bengal and so is the Indian Constitution. Another way of reading the image according to Anupam is to think of how in the current political regime the task of safeguarding the Constitution is carried out foremostly by the endangered and minority populace despite them being most in need of Constitutional protection. 

However, in the beginning, Anupam says his art was self-centric, Brahmanical and androcentric despite his burgeoning engagement with leftist politics. As the oeuvre of Anupam’s practice grew with his association with CPI ML-Liberation and a self-reflective understanding of his caste-gender privileges– the horizons of experimentation also broadened steadily. The artist made several graffiti in Jawaharlal Nehru University around themes of corruption, corporate mining, state and capitalist nexus, caste atrocities, riots, state violence, workers struggle, gender rights etc. and also held his first solo show in the University’s School of Arts and Aesthetics titled Migratory Bird in 2012. 

Today his nucleus has shifted towards a portrayal of what he calls “representational impossibility”. He states, 

Artists cannot represent anybody if they do not understand or connect with the voice of the collective. However,  the question of representation is one thing and claims of the same are different. Artists or individuals, if deeply connected with socio-political movements (not always understood as demonstration), then they must understand the power of the voice of the collective. Today’s farce is that we think that as individuals ‘I’ is the centre of knowledge. And this farce of Enlightenment is not allowing us to understand the voice of the collective. 

The statement is annotated with multiple meanings. To practise a semblance of progressive art, it essentially requires one to understand who is the ‘other’. Especially because the Indian creative art practice realm has always used myth to depict particular stereotypes and characteristics, often used as a typecast for marginalised communities. Anupam says,

There are a few myths that are oral and spread generation after generation and become dominant in the conscience. Such mythical narratives help the dominant section to propagate their own ideology. This way, many images become the norm and a part of myth. If one looks historically then one can see the propagation and which section of the society sets such binary and why. As a visual art practitioner, my role is to deconstruct such binary. My image-making practice is an attempt to re-territorialize such constructed images.

Another area where there is a violent clash between visuality and myth is when characters from the Adivasi and Dalit communities are depicted as ghosts, demons and outliers only. Hence for Anupam the contradiction is to work with and not for the progressive political milieu. The other necessary prerequisite is to rethink the parameters of both art and politics. “As a part of different socio-political movements, my task is to utilise my artistic ability to fulfil the need of everyday propaganda materials”, says the artist. As an amalgamation of the political and the artistic, Anupam tried to intervene in the gallery by creating a discursive space through his just concluded exhibition titled Broken Cogs in the Machine. He says, “I try to organise a situation that can raise the voice of difference and can break the status quo.”

His artworks attempt to foreground justice and truth as the two main conceptual categories. He says, “My practice is to counter the discourse of the dominant and hegemonic myth in iconography.” The other necessary element for a political categorisation for Anupam is lived experience. Apart from an artist, Anupam also labels himself as a full-time propagandist. His politics, posters, and paintings revolve around ideological propaganda and its various possibilities. He deploys political strategies to expand his audience base through the medium of the movement. He ruminates further on the word strategy and says, 

Public spaces as sites of political demonstration can also be used for artistic expressions. All the works that are made for the ornamentation or the propagation of a particular ideology are not always strictly objective, as they are also a site of individual expressions. My long term engagement in the city and on the outskirts of Delhi has also impacted my exhibition style. 

He elucidates on the conflicting space of a modern art gallery. In this context, Broken Cogs in the Machine, his latest show at the Vadehra Art gallery, running from July 6- August 5, 2022 was an attempt to break the gallery space by inculcating a plurality of interactive and inclusive approaches. 

The concept note, written by Shivangi Mariam Raj and Sandip K Luis, of the exhibition stated, 

Anupam’s works are an attempt to compose a history of our times…each frame in the artist’s oeuvre reveals a topography of existential precarity and absurdity. The contradiction in the artist’s practice arises from his self definition as a propagandist in a world where words fail and images decompose. 

The dialectic of his practice lays bare a diffident analysis emerging out of dark foliage and even darker figures. Anupam counters the problem of limited outreach by maintaining a diversity in his stylistic and thematic occupation. He does so by imbibing the myths from his childhood that are full of local wisdom and moral predicaments.

Anupam says, “Similar to my work, myths also create contradictions.” He further states how myths circulate in society through experience and so does his art. His images become more meaningful upon meeting with various forms of divergent experiences that they generate. In a similar context, myths also take on a different shape when they are generated out of a subaltern experience in comparison to a dominant one. The contrast is clearly reflected in Anupam’s vast collection of paintings, murals and sketches. “I therefore try to question not just myth but also the construct of it”, he says.  

According to Anupam, Broken Cogs in the Machine, was an attempt towards a critical and discursive space. “I was able to explore more both theoretically and politically compared to my previous exhibitions”, says the artist. As the recipient of the 2018 Emerging Artist Award granted by FICA, he highlights both the shortcomings and strengths of the thought-provoking exhibition. The Panels organised during the show were mostly a part of the artist’s own cultural-political milieu rendering the purpose of an interdisciplinary and poly-vocal dialogue moot. The show witnessed viewers from various walks of life.  However, the artist recollects his shows in Kochi and Banipur— two exhibitions that gave space to manifold personalities ranging from grassroot activists, Adivasi organisers and landless labourers. “It is important to engage with such persons as they move beyond the semantics of theory and arrive directly at the core of the conflict”, states Anupam.

He further adds, 

The imagery of the Hindu upper caste follows a linear approach whereas the indigenous imagery develops through a multivocal approach and incorporates elements of both human, nature and animal and their multifarious interpretations. It is a dignified and non-hierarchical relationship as the native knowledge system is vast. 

One finds his work to be full of the local flora and fauna of indigenous locations in the eastern part of the country.  The aim is to invoke the myths and metaphors associated with such visual symbols. 

Even in the city, the donkey is deeply associated with working class people who work at construction sites, however, the same animal has been used in a very problematic way in cartoons or in daily conversation. Hence, my relation to the image-making practice is a constant attempt to create political subjectivization.

Anupam recalls another example of the Niyamgiri Golden Gecko–the “Guardian of the Stream” and how it is seen without the usual repulsion and fear it invokes in urban dwellers. “Hence myth like art carries different meanings”, says the artist. 

Furthermore, Anupam sees the ‘Broken Cogs in the Machine’ as a metaphor for agency and collectivity. As a privileged upper caste male artist, he acknowledges his complicity in the structure. However, he cites the brokenness of the cog as central to the system. The artist weaves disassociation as a conscious choice in his plethora of practice along with the twin concepts of ‘denial’ and ‘disagreement’. For him, politics is an ongoing quotidian process necessary to reflect in the language of art. Anupam accords a certain primacy to the ‘practice of care’ to counter the masculinity of radical politics he has seen around himself, especially in the hegemonic space of Kolkata. The aim remains to project a practice sans any metaphorical impetus but rather a political-philosophical one. The artist’s experimentation with different mediums beyond his trademark sketches is an ongoing process. The coalescence of an inarticulate language along with the impossibility of meaning embedded in the colossal sketches highlights the central theme of brokenness. His tools of resistance incorporate a vernacular style, propaganda and continued engagement with his native land of Kankpul. Therefore, one finds a certain emphasis on the relationship between land and labour. He says, “As an image-maker, I try to use the myths of land and labour both subconsciously or consciously as myths break many of our associated and assumed meanings.” 

The collaborative gesture is expounded by a sustained belief in political change accompanied by a cultural one. Anupam says, “The real contradiction lies in acknowledging inequality and appropriation”. Anupam’s aesthetic oeuvre integrates a variety of forms foregrounding the working class of the Indian subcontinent.The formula seems appropriate for the eventual breaking down of the machinic Leviathan that breathes down heavily on each of us today. The reimagining by the artist hopes to pave a way for an egalitarian temporality of co-existence by countering all myths. The self-reflexive art renders definition, differentiation and discourse of brokenness as a brutal reality of our times.