UoH students condemn Censorship Committee

At a time when the right to freedom of expression is at stake with various universities and colleges making efforts to curb dissent, fine art students at University of Hyderabad (UoH) are fuming over the appointment of a screening committee which will approve their art works before publicly exhibiting them. “A notice signed by the head of the department at the Sarojini Naidu School of Arts and Communication was put up recently at the university’s campus, without an official word,” said a student.

Outgoing batches of 30 students pursuing their masters in painting and sculpture at the college organise a public exhibition each year. This year, the exhibition is scheduled to start from May 1 but the news of a screening committee has raised concern among students. They are worried about the possible censorship of their art works if the committee doesn't approve of them. At a meeting that was held in the department on March 31, the proposal to screen works of the final year students was discussed. Any work that the committee deemed inappropriate would be left out of the exhibition.

“This is a unilateral order from the head of department because he doesn’t want us to offend people. This implies that we can’t do anything controversial and we have no way to know what they will decide as inappropriate. Such committees, without a clear directive and procedure, as we well know, can be manipulated by the people in power, according to their ideological orientations,” said a student of the batch.

A teacher refused to comment on record but said that the move would be beneficial for students and it is in everyone’s interest if the controversies could be kept out of their work and exhibition. She went on to say that the decision is well thought out and a formal statement will soon eliminate all concerns. The students have started a public campaign on Facebook, which hasn’t gone down well with the department.

As the students reached out to the larger art community, many painters and sculptors have responded to the issue and condemned the notice. Among those who supported the students is Delhi-based art critic and curator Johnny ML who wrote a Facebook note and said, “The HoD fears that there could be a possible attack on the works of art displayed. Apparently, these concerns sound very positive and progressive. We cannot expect students to be insular to the socio-political and cultural changes taking place in the country and elsewhere.

Their works could reflect their thoughts, at times in the form of adulation and at times in the form of critique. There cannot be any fixed criteria to assess what is offensive and what is not offensive in such creative and aesthetic responses. Teachers and head of the department becoming overtly conscious about the possible censorial attacks is nothing but cowardice, which does not add dignity not only to the teachers but also to the university itself. Thirdly, the teachers and head of the department must be pre-empting a possible scenario of censorship and they just do not want to be answerable to the higher authorities in the university.” With inputs from Scroll.in