The art of power

Once upon a time the words struggling and artist went together like gin and tonic Not so much anymore Any gin artists have with their infused tonics would be beautiful and expensive because art is big business So its inevitable that power hierarchies slowly develop Where progress depends on having ones talent noticed those in the position to notice recommend and promote become deeply invisibly powerfulNo surprise then that stories from the Indian art world emerged in last years wave of MeToo through the anonymous Instagram handle herdsceneand Several well known artists were named among them Subodh Gupta After the first account emerged several more people spoke up with their allegationsLast week Mr Gupta sued the Instagram account for defamation and a token Rs 5 crores Rupees five crores must indeed feel like a token amount to Mr Gupta whose sculptures of steel bartans have sold for fabulous sums For others Rs 5 crores is not so much token as total annihilation The court has ordered a takedown of all references to allegations of sexual harassment by Subodh Gupta and asked FacebookInstagram to disclose the identity of the account administrator in a sealed envelope for the courts eye onlyIt is difficult to read the accounts from MeToo Some incidents discomfit because they feel open to interpretation Others are stomachchurning in their ugliness and casual violence But most disturbing is what is revealed when you look at these accounts as a whole a world where power congeals around men whose consideration of women colleagues is almost always objectifying and sexual not professional Its a violent and minimising world for a young person to inhabit All the more so in the worlds of freelance work the gig economy with its fake sexual freedom and lack of any structure where you could actually complain If there is one thing we see here it is that a big part of making due process work lies in altering structures of privilege and underlining ethical behaviourLets say Mr Gupta feels he is wrongly accused of something unprovable If he has the resources to sue and take down allegations why wouldnt he But isnt it possible for two things to be simultaneously true It could be true that an allegation is doubtful but that doesnt mean the larger truth which MeToo emerges from is falsemdashworkspaces are sexist sexual harassment is rampant and the concealed matrix of privilege and cultural capital constantly evades the grasp of due process Who has the intellectual resources to accommodate two parallel truths to find meaning in ambiguity if not an artistPerhaps it might have been possible for Mr Gupta to ask for take downs of allegations without suing for such a large sum It feels like he wants to make an example of this collective But he could instead have been an example of a politically creative approach to justice asserted his innocence without disregarding the MeToo movementWell perhaps it is not possible for individuals to act against their selfinterest or feel a need for angry revenge It is up to the world then to respond to unmake this privilege to stop lamenting the fates of alleged geniuses whove already had a good run and create new structures that make space for the creative voices of women whove spoken upParomita Vohra is an awardwinning Mumbaibased filmmaker writer and curator working with fiction and nonfiction Reach her at paromitavohramiddaycomCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates