Farmer protests spark wave of Instagram art that challenges govt.’s methods of suppression
Saplings growing out of pellet wounds on a man’s back, nails pitched on a road, a teargas canister with a political figure’s face on it — pictures from the latest farmer protests in north India have elicited a range of artwork on social media platform Instagram.
The 20202021 farmer protests too had inspired such pieces, but those were centred on the farmers. This time, though, the subject of most pieces is of the severity of the steps taken by the Haryana government to control the protests, which began in February.
A Delhibased multidisciplinary artist, who runs the Instagram page @madpaule_diaries, created an illustration on pellet wounds, prompted by the injuries caused to farmers protesting on the Shambhu border between Punjab and Haryana.
Though the artist refuses to be named as he fears backlash, he calls it an ode to resilience. “This image is for all protesters; those in Shambhu, Gaza and Kashmir, whose voices could not be silenced by pellet guns, bombs or even bullets,” he added.
Since the beginning of the latest protest, more than 200 accounts on X and Facebook have been withheld in India, according to the media coordinator of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, one of the protesting groups from Punjab. In times as these, Instagram has become a viable medium for disseminating art.
But, for illustrator Manan Singh, Instagram has become challenging too. “Its algorithm focuses on videosharing content,” he said.
Mumbaibased Ruchir, who posted an illustration of a man wearing gas mask and a kite with inquilab (revolution) written on it in Hindi, too raised concerns over shadowbanned posts. “Our reach dips after sharing posts with certain hashtags,” he said.