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Since the beginning of the decade, an idea has been roaming in the mind of Siddhesh Gautam. He wanted to create an art magazine dedicated to portraying invisible types of people and communities.
Having been a part of the mainstream art community for almost a decade, the Delhi-based artist says he is familiar with the “bindi-and-moustache” aesthetic that dominates the country’s booming art market, which is basically life. and cultures of privileged, urban communities And their understanding of the country and the world.
“I was missing a proper magazine that covered all types of arts, including the diversity of lives of marginalized communities. A critical art magazine that talks about everything that this country is made of, including caste, gender, marginalization and the kinds of everyday struggles that make up most of our lives,” says Gautam, 32. Are.
For three years, he faltered as mainstream people offered gentle words of encouragement but little material support.
Finally, last year, he decided to take the step. He then co-founded All That Blue with Bhumika Saraswati (Delhi-based filmmaker), Jaisingh Nageswaran (Chennai-based artist), Shrujana Sridhar (Mumbai-based painter) and Anurag Banerjee (Mumbai-based photographer). -Editor of the inaugural edition. In April, it will bring together essays, photography, illustration and poetry in a volume the editors hope will stand out for its rawness, grit and diversity of viewpoints. The plan is to finance the first version itself, then rely on pre-orders.
India’s art market is booming. Every year since 2020, stalwarts like Amrita Sher-Gil, FN Souza and VS Gaitonde have created new records at international auctions. International platforms from Venice Biennale to Documenta are inviting young Indians to showcase their work.
But artists from marginalized communities are only a small part of this market, and often complain that they struggle to gain a foothold in a world that is still defined by personal relationships and “artistic lineage.” Meanwhile, work based on important ideas such as anti-racist resistance and the rights of sexual minorities is still regarded as niche practice; The kind of art that can complement the mainstream, but not dominate within it.
It is these ideas that All That Blue hopes to challenge.
Inspiring the co-editors was a body of anti-caste literature, but Saraswati says they were aware of the lack of more visual mediums. “We recognize the lack of visual-first print space, especially for those who communicate primarily through visuals. All That Blue strives to provide a platform for such visual-based stories, allowing them to speak in their own language,” she says.
“In the process of creating the magazine,” says Nageswaran, “many submissions came in from different places, showcasing new voices – artists working across the mediums of visual arts and literature.” “It was inspiring to see their work. I believe That through these art forms we will move towards a new world.
The 20 works that the editors will showcase in the inaugural edition include a visual essay by Delhi University professor Jenny Rowena and her colleague Taufiq on anti-caste academic Honey Babu, who is currently in jail in connection with the 2018 Bhima Koregaon massacre. Case. Chennai-based photographer Arun Vijay Mathavan’s harrowing images will lift the curtain on the people, often Dalit sanitation workers, who perform post-mortem procedures in government hospitals. A surreal interpretation of famous anti-caste places like the Deeksha Bhoomi Buddhist Stupa in Nagpur, where lakhs of people gather every year to commemorate BR Ambedkar’s historic conversion to Buddhism, by Maharashtrian artist Ajay Doke. and Pakistani artist Shehzil Malik’s depiction of the Aurat March, a demonstration of thousands for women’s rights in Pakistan that has been held annually since 2018.
“So the color blue here doesn’t just refer to race, it means everything under the blue sky, all the stories that were neglected until now, across countries and borders. Unless we start taking ourselves seriously, no one else will,” says Gautam. “In the 21st century, doing this involves documentation… only things that are published are taken seriously. If this is what the times require then this is what we will do.”
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