Sunday 6 September 2015

Mahatma and the art of leadership ...


"Public Notice #2"
Jitish Kallat
Art Gallery New South Wales
Foyer


On 12th March, 1930, Mahatma Gandhi gave a speech that marked the beginning of his "salt march", during which he walked 390 kms to the coastal town of Dandi in Gujarat. There he gathered salt and refused to pay the tax imposed by the colonial British government. This simple, and now famous, act inspired national civil disobedience, spurring an intensified Indian independence movement. Gandhi's legacy of non-violent protest continues to influence political action worldwide.

In "Public Notice 2", Indian artist, Jitish Kallat renders Gandhi's historic speech in its entirety, letter by letter. Each letter appears to be made from bone, as though Kallat has exhumed these words from their historical resting place. As Kallat says: "In today's terror infected world, where wars against terror are fought at prime television time, voices such as Gandhi's stare back at us like discarded relics".


3 comments:

Joan Elizabeth said...

Well this looks like a piece of modern art that I can understand.

diane b said...

Art with a clear message.

William Kendall said...

Unusual and effective!