Sharmistha Ray talks of her upcoming Bellevue Salons, and why we need to agree to disagree
Sharmistha Ray
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Artist and curator Sharmistha Ray, who started Bellevue Salon, a conversational platform out of her Mumbai studio, to challenge conventional ways of thinking about art and culture, is out with her next edition. This time it's about the politics of art in current times, and will have curator Dr Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, artist Dr Arshiya Lokhandwala and writer Prajna Desai at the panel.
"There's a serious curtailing of freedom of expression happening within our society. As a culture, we have been accustomed to an open dialogue even if we didn't always agree. To see that being pushed back is alarming," says Ray. The artist, who grew up in the Middle East, was often subjected to harsh censorship laws. "Censorship suffocates art; it doesn't allow artists the unrestricted freedom to explore ideas and to offend if necessary. Look at what's happening with RJ Malishka, for instance," she says. Ray feels, as a culture, we have forgotten to laugh at ourselves. "We shouldn't be so thin skinned about criticism. I am all for parody and satire," she adds.
Ray will bring together three curators who are known to address politics within their exhibitions. "The salons have always been about producing something new from conversations, to spark new ways of thinking about our culture," she says.
WHERE: Library, Goethe-Institut, Max Mueller Bhavan, K Dubash Marg, Kala Ghoda
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