Art in Kashmir Public Spaces

Monday, November 19, 2007

Three generations sitting on a bus stop promoting a cellular phone company's brand in Srinagar on a sunny day. With the growing consumerism increased the marketing trend among the business houses in Kashmir, particularly the cellular phone companies. Kashmir turned out to be the heaven for cellular companies with most of the people possessing the cellular phones.

An electric pole having pasted on it the poster of separatist leader and showcasing the women's dress material in the busy market of Srinagar. The initiation of insurgency saw imposition of dress code on the women. The women were asked to wear the veil. The present trend is an indication of the changed atmosphere.

A sharpening contrast. Two buildings built side by side giving an insight of the insurgency ridden Kashmir. The building gutted in an encounter and having bullet marks reminds of the unrest, while as another building showcasing sign boards and housing boutique house is an indication of life struggling amid insurgency. The ruins of the buildings have been aptly termed as the ghosts of insurgency in Kashmir.

A man devoutly looks at the religious iconography available for sale in the Srinagar street. Kashmir is a sufi abode and religion and faith has a unique standing in Kashmir society. Street vendors do brisk sales of the Quaranic verses (taken from Holy Quran) particulary during the holy month of Ramadhan (the Muslim fasting month).

A boy searching poster of his favourite bollywood icon from among the bundle along side a makeshift street art outlet in the busy road of Srinagar. Post insurgency era marked a surge in such outlets selling photos of bollywood stars and religious iconography in Srinagar streets.

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Changing forms of Art in the public spaces of Kashmir

Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir is nestled along the banks of river Jehlum and partly along world famous Dal Lake. It is a city grappling hard to survive the onslaught of insurgency and violence.

Kashmir commonly referred as the crown of India continues to be the bone of contention between the two warring neighbours- Indian and Pakistan ever since, the two gained their freedom from the clutches of British rule in 1947.

So far India and Pakistan has fought three full-fledged wars over Kashmir besides the one fought in the hills of Kargil during 1999. The standoff has made Kashmir the flashpoint in entire South Asian region.

Kashmir as a society has its rich cultural heritage and impressive legacies of art and literature. The aesthetics and beauty of the place won it the title " Paradise on earth". Rightly, it has always been a driving force for artists and poets living here.

A peep into the historical chronicles takes us to the year 1989, a time period that acts as a point of reference for pre and post era of the ongoing insurgency in Kashmir. To be exact enough, this year marked outbreak of armed insurgency in Kashmir.

The beginning of conflict changed the scenario of the region. Old ideas got replaced by the fresh ones. Priorities started changing. The art as a reflex of the society could not save the present onslaught. And with it the art in the city's open space underwent a massive change.

The bigger than life size imagery and posters of famous bollywood movies vanished from the walls and crowded spaces. Likewise the posters of mainstream political parties showcasing their leaders and agendas went into oblivion.

Since the rebellion was an open defiance of Indian establishment, its sentiment was manifest in the open spaces of Kashmir as well and Srinagar being no exception. Black flags, posters cautioning association with mainstream parties, diktats banning closure of cinema halls and video centres, wine shops and imposing a moral and dress code as well. The last but not least was the sale of fashion magazines.
The posters endorsing several brands showcasing bollywood stars too got extinct in the din of condemnation.

For sometime city's open space looked empty and brazen.

On the sidelines of rebellion, people were being killed either by militants or by paramilitary forces fighting militants in Kashmir. Since then people have been witnessing killings, torture, death and destruction due to roadside bomb blasts, rape and enforced disappearances.

A new trend of constructing memorials and taps on the roadsides and main market places picked up. The memorials were erected in the memory of those killed in the insurgency. It continued for sometime, however the process went slack and the existing ones lost the sheen. The unattended public points lie in the ruins and most of them having water supply stopped and marble stones broken. This too will vanish from the public memory, if not preserved as a matter of record.

Stereotypes from which Kashmir was seen outside too went a change. For instance a man dressed in pheran, a Kashmiri cloak and wearing conical cap and rowing shikara (boat) over the waters of Dal Lake ceases to be the indicative of Kashmir.
Today's picture of Kashmir is incomplete without a gun-toting trooper in combat gear. The ubiquity of such personnel has made them part of the new Kashmiri folklore. Such bigger billboards depicting bigger than the life size images dot the crowded spaces and road intersections of towns and villages in Kashmir.

Contrary to this change so far no attempt has been made to record such a change. The argument that goes in its support being "when life (primary concern) is at stake, secondary issues usually take the back seat."

My research work is aimed at providing an insight into the changing forms of art (bazaar art) in the public spaces of Srinagar. I have made an effort to capture the present forms of art as they appear in the open spaces.
Two years from now these changes will disappear from the public spaces and hence there arises a need to preserve the art forms in order to make a data base to act as a reference point for future generations and research purpose.

During my research for the particular subject I have tried to attract the main forms of art depictions as they appear on the hoardings in the public places.
My yearning for the graffiti on a walls like "ghareeb awam kay liye Congress ko vote do", "do say mafi, eak hi kafi" and et al never attracted my attention as failed to locate them further. During my childhood such cut lines scribbled on the walls used to hold my attention, the moment I used to move past such walls.

The changes

Since the remains of changed forms of art during insurgency have almost vanished from the public space, martyr memorials that came up in the memory of killed ones' can be still found along roadsides but in ruins.
"Martyr" memorials – A tap and an epitaph having inscriptions detailed on it about the dead came up in the every nook and corner of the valley, mostly in Srinagar city and other towns.

The big metal frame bases on which various film posters announcing new releases were pasted accumulated rust. Cinema halls got converted into military garrisons and a sandbagged culture became prominent in the city and major towns.

However what then sociologists say is "art never dies" and same got reflected in the years that followed.

The Present trend
Last two years saw an upheaval in the culture of hoardings in the valley. Army in Kashmir fighting the insurgency initiated the process by erecting hoardings having bigger than life size images of its jawans amid old and young children from border districts of Kashmir. The hoardings are having the cut lines "Jawan aur awam amun hai muqam".

This was followed by the hoardings that came because of the political mantra of People's Democratic Party, partner in the ruling coalition in Jammu and Kashmir . Prior to the opening of Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, the people's attention was grabbed by these hoardings giving the actual distance in kilometers from various places to Muzaffarabad in Pakistan administered Kashmir .

Of late Tourism and private companies have joined the bandwagon. If some hoardings promote the particular brand, Tourism department sells the Kashmir as a tourist destination. Likewise, Power department cautions about the theft of electricity and so on and so forth.

The Final Product

Under the aegis of Tasveer Ghar, I have managed to get the hoardings and other arts forms photographed. The aim is to keep the collection and documentation of the changing forms of popular visual arts found in the public spaces of Srinagar available at the website of Tasveer Ghar.

In this fellowship my associate was a professional photographer, Javed Dar.