Can you see them now? Why these Indian artists are making art to be 'seen'

Its been a few years since Thamshangpha lsquoMercirsquo Maku moved out of Manipur but home is what he sees in mindrsquos eye when he sits with crayon to paper in his studio in Baroda And it is through his eye that the viewer gets a glimpse into Manipurrsquos past and present so much of which still remains invisible to mainland India despite the conflictridden state being on the news for the past few yearsBut this invisibility of the Northeastern state goes far beyond the last three years of violence ldquoOutsiders probably think that Manipur has been seeing conflict for three or four years But we have memories and trauma from war stretching back decades mdash community conflicts wars between the British Americans Japanese World War I and IIhellip So this horror and anxiety is deeply embedded in our stories words and artrdquo he saysThis trauma passed down through generations shows up in unexpected ways One of his recent works Donrsquot Die Starving is literally based on ldquowords passed down from my parents and before that her parentsrdquo The artwork features a series of drawings and traditional Manipuri recipes pencilled onto 35 ceramic plates with cane stitching along with a Manipuri cookbook that Merci is still working onOne of 35 ceramic plates with Manipuri recipes pencilled on them from the Donrsquot Die Starving series by Thamshangpha lsquoMercirsquo Maku PicCourtesy Anant ArtThe title of the work comes from childhood warnings from his mother to eat quickly ldquobecause there could be an attack at any time and if he died hungry his spirit would starve toordquo ldquoDinnertime for us is around 5 or 6 in the evening for the same reason ndash we donrsquot eat late in the nightrdquo he saysMasood HussainThe artwork is an extension of an interactive art performance he had done during a Goan residency in 2023 cooking the same Manipuri dishes for everyone and sharing the memories attached to the food There was an instant connection in the audience he recalls ldquoSometimes where language struggles to convey onersquos reality to others art does it so simply and yet profoundlyrdquo he saysDonrsquot Die Starving is one of the works currently on display at Mercirsquos first solo exhibition Phanstasms in the Hold at Anant Art Gallery in New Delhi Like the title suggests the exhibition is full of dark spectres or what Merci calls ldquoghostsrdquo of Manipurrsquos hidden history and pain That anxiety comes through particularly in his crayon etchings on paper such as a piece titled Shia Krao which depicts dark figures with limbs in chaotic positions very clearly signalling peril This artwork harks back to tales his father would tell of the ghosts of army men hiding in the trees mdash folklore dating back to the Japanese invasion of Manipur during World War II ldquoShia Krao is a practice of appeasing spirits mdash they can be good or bad mdash with offerings or rituals Villagers put a pole outside the village and make their offerings there so the spirit is contained thererdquo he saysKashmiri artist Masood Hussainrsquos image of child carrying a doll blinded by pellet guns went viral in 2016Art says Merci is how he can make others ldquosee who he is where comes from and how he and other Manipuris liverdquoAcross the world artists have turned to the visual mediums to make inconvenient truths more palatable for social discourse from Banksyrsquos graffiti on Palestine to Kashmiri artist Masood Hussainrsquos paintings on unrest in KashmirGeorgina Maddox and Thamshangpha MakuCloser home in Mumbai the queer community has been grieving the passage of the Transgender Persons Protection of Rights Amendment Act 2026 which has snatched their right to selfidentification of gender subjecting them to humiliating inspections by a medical board and the government for legal recognition The amendment was passed despite sustained protests by the trans and nonbinary communities and extensive media coverage of the controversy And yet the movement found surprisingly little support among cishet folk and even among the larger LGBTQIA communityPerhaps thatrsquos because people tend to ldquootherrdquo anyone different from them putting more weight in the difference rather than the ways we are all alike That is where art can help says queer activist and art criticcurator Georgina Maddox who curated Beyond the Binary an art exhibition at Colabarsquos Apre Art House last month featuring works by 11 queer artists The August showcase was one of the few exhibitions in the country to respond directly to the Trans Act amendmentldquoThis exhibition really celebrated the body and the togetherness of people who are nonbinary They want to tell people that gender is something which is constructed and desire is something which doesnrsquot necessarily acknowledge this constructionrdquo Maddox saysBanksy uses graffiti to highlight issues such as this mural outside a London court to critique the UKrsquos crackdown on a proPalestine protest group PicXmalonebarryBut when protests media coverage and even social media debates have failed to some extent can art succeed in making the invisible struggles of marginalised people more visible to society ldquoArt offers a way to imagine someone elsersquos life and perspective mdash something that might not even be visible to you otherwise Sometimes itrsquos an image of a tender moment sometimes itrsquos someonersquos fantasy mdash it gives you a window to an idea one may not have had the language or vocabulary for beforerdquo Maddox tells usIts chief weapon is to disarm the viewer ldquoArt appeals to the senses first and then your mind starts processing and intellectualising itrdquo she stresses ldquoWords on the other hand require your intellect from the getgo and itrsquos all too easy to slip into overintellectualisation and resistance to anything new Art is more open to interpretation so itrsquos easier to see yourself in the story and relate to itrdquoldquoThis way we make more allies We need more voices to join the fight and for that we need the mainstream to understand us better But where an essay might bore the nonmarginalised and a protest might provoke them art can disarm and open the doors to their heartsrdquo she adds While some of the art in the exhibition is loud and proud in its queer identity many of the images are more subtle in their messaging mdash a faceless couple holding hands one man gazing at another at a monument As Maddox says ldquoItrsquos love and who canrsquot relate to thatrdquoFor many the paper leak protests at Jantar Mantar in Delhi was the first time they were exposed to pellet guns allegedly used against the protestors And yet Kashmiri youths have been living with this reality for decades This pain mdash that the rest of the country has long shut out mdash is reflected in art by renowned Kashmiri artist Masood HussainAs peace in the Valley deteriorated amid clashes between insurgents and the armed forces Hussain has responded with art In 2016 after several youths were blinded by pellet guns used to quell protests over militant Burhan Wani he created a blackandwhite series of images depicting blinded children ldquoI had visited the hospital and seen a lot of children with pellet injuries I couldnrsquot bear it This digital art series expressed my resentment against this violencerdquo says Hussain an alumnus of the Sir JJ School of Art in MumbaiThe series particularly an image of a child carrying blinded dolls went viral ldquoIn any other scenario a child with a doll is a happy imagerdquo says Hussain who is now working on a series depicting Kashmirrsquos history Artists in Kashmir in particular have paid for their outspokenness at times shunned by galleries across the country because their work is themed on conflict which is ldquonot easy to sellrdquo And yet many like Hussain carry on because they believe art is meant to help people ldquoArt conveys the most primitive and profound feelings hope pain violence And human beings react to those emotions My art too reflects the reality in Kashmir both the hope and the painrdquoKhursheed Ali and Nasir Hassan brought this same pain from Kashmir to New Delhi in 2024 with protest art depicting the erasure of Kashmirrsquos history of conflict and death They use red ink and white shrouds to evoke death They also draw attention to the unexplained disappearance of scores of young men amid the governmentrsquos crackdown on militancyldquoHow else can we convey our suffering How can we get people to hear usrdquo say the artiste duoFrom the Beyond The Binary show Something for Each Other by Veer Misra and Exiles The Party by Sunil Gupta Picscourtesy Apre Art HouselsquoArt has changed perception throughout historyrsquoldquoArt cannot legislate freedom but it can change the way we see the person standing in front of usrdquo says Prerna SM Jain founder and director of Apre Art House ldquoThat shift in perception can be profound Throughout history art has shaped how we understand power identity and society Mughal portraiture constructed and reinforced the authority of the emperor Raja Ravi Varma transformed Indian visual culture by bringing mythological imagery into homes across the country Soviet posters turned ideology into mass visual language and Picassorsquos Guernica became an enduring symbol of the violence of war Artists have also used this power to resist from political movements to Gran Fury and ACT UP where art and graphic design became tools of queer activismhellip Art does not simply reflect its time It can shape what we see remember and question It can make visible experiences that have been overlooked and create a starting point for difficult conversationsrdquo