Aamir Aziz, Anita Dube and the hypocrisy of political art | Mint

The problem with artist Anita Dube’s use of lines from a poem by activist Aamir Aziz is best articulated by the aggrieved poet himself in his posts on social media on April 20. As facts it is, there is no wrapping space for any ethical debate about ‘good intentions’ versus ‘poor outcomes.’ But there is a space to look at this controversy as a symptom of a deeper malaise that will only get worse over time. But first, the facts. On her constant performance in Delhi’s Vadehra Art Gallery (VAG), entitled Timanjila Ghar, Dube used several rules from Aziz’s poem, SAB Yaad Rakha Jayega, as part of some of her artworks. As she attributed her source, she did not seek Aziz’s permission to use his poem. Any self -conscious artist, let alone a senior practitioner such as Dube (who compiled the 2018 Kochi Biennale), must know the protocol for loans with her living contemporaries. On the fleece show, Dube refers to many thinkers – Orwell, Mandela, Freud, Ambedkar, to name a few – but most of them are dead, and their works are out of copyright. Aziz is an exception. In 2020, during the nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, Aziz first shared his poem on social media. It did not take long to become a national anthem of the movement, along with Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s fiery Hum Dekhenge. At the peak of his popularity, Aziz’s poem was read by Roger Waters of Pink Floyd during a London concert. The poem has already found viral on Indian social media an immediate global audience. If virality on social media brings attention and praise, it also creates a great space for exploitation. No day goes by without one Creator accusing another of abusing their content – from abuse to blatant plagiarism, these offenses cover a spectrum of black, white and gray areas. On the internet, it is relatively easier to shame the accused to take off an offensive post or story. In the worst case, the culprit lost some followers, spent a few days in the commentary, and then the world goes to the next social media trial. This is the law of the wild, wild world of the internet. In the real world, however, the rules of the games are not the same, especially if the interests are highly monetary or in terms of personal brand building. Although Dube tried to defend her actions, he claimed that her intention was to “celebrate” the poem, as Aziz pointed out, and the poem cited during a public protest, is indeed a celebration. But putting it in a white cube, with a fat price tag on it, without telling the creator about it, is Cavalier respect. Since Aziz’s posts, fleece has removed the disputed works from the sale, but did not decrease at the time of writing. In a statement, the gallery expressed its dedication “to all artists and their creative expressions” – a textbook case to have a cake and also eat it. Such remarks not only trivialize the seriousness of the problem, but also reinforce the hypocrisy on which the so -called ‘political art’ still thrives in the intense commercial ecosystem to produce, sell and buy art. It has now turned out that Dube has also shown some of her other work on the India Art Fair 2025, compiled by Arshiya Lokhandwala, with Aziz’s poems, without his knowledge. On that carnival for the elite, sponsored by some of the greatest corporate giants, it would have been a miracle if someone noticed such an offense rather than the price of the work, or the latest way on contemporary art. While AI continues to train himself to become better imitators of everything that is beautiful and mysterious, it is critical to have exact standards of transparency over each stage of the creative process. In 2023, Boris Eldagsen, a German artist, Dall-e, an AI instrument, used to generate an image, titled Pseudomnesia: The Electrician, who won the Sony World Photography Award. In a bizarre turn, the jury still wanted to give the prize to Eldagsen, even after he was told of the deception, but the artist refused it, because ‘Ai is not creativity, as he said. The art of deception may not always involve such dramatic gestures. Sometimes it’s just a seemingly innocent slip for everything to become a smooth slope. First published: 22 Apr 2025, 10:35 am Ist