Blank walls, missing protests: Inside Raihan Vadra’s curtailed show

An exhibition of photographs at Delhi’s Bikaner House made headlines Thursday after the photographer – Raihan R Vadra – was told to remove 70 prints from a collection of 105, most of which documented recent protests in the national capital, including at Jantar Mantar in July.

Flagged as ‘political content’, the prints included two of the national flag being waved at some rallies, images he declined to remove but were then taken down by the organiser themselves.

In an exclusive interview with The Indian Express, Vadra – a visual artist and the son of Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra – said the ‘takedown request’ was made less than four hours before his show was to open, and by a venue that has hosted at least one of his shows every year since 2021.

Credit: Raihan R Vadra

Vadra argued the prints – their ejection marked by a sea of blank spaces on the gallery walls – did not feature politicians, party flags, or protest slogans, and that public and private art institutions had to respect an artists’ freedom of expression irrespective of the party in power at a given time.

“They were mostly…images of regular people taken (during) the protest. There were no slogans…there was no context to what the images were,” he told the Express’ Srirupa Goswami.

“I cooperated. I said ‘you want to take down four or five photos, replace them? I have extra prints, I’m happy to do that if you think I have misconstrued some as ‘non-political’. But to ask me to remove 70 images three-and-a half hours before my show opens is a bit insane,” Vadra said.

The 26-year-old said he himself flagged one print with political messaging and that he had respected the guidelines, pointing out his concept note – which said his photographs woud ‘explore themes like unity, control, and choice’ – had been cleared by the organisers on June 30.

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“In fact, I shared a layout on October 15, a week before the exhibition was to start. But yesterday I was told the layout is ‘not readable’. So I said ‘you had six days to tell me but you’re telling me three hours before my show’. So either they did not look at it (the layout) or…” he trailed off.

Vadra stressed the culling of the prints ran counter to the duty public and private art institutions had to artists and freedom of expression, particularly during protests against the party in power.

“I think it happened because of the background. They didn’t want to take a chance with those photos,” he said, referring obliquely to tension between the government and groups like the Abhijeet Dipke-founded CJP and Neha Bora-led AISA, as well as the Congress-led INDIA bloc.

There is, though, a Congress-sized elephant in the room. Raihan Vadra may not be politicaly active but he is from one of the world’s most politically famous families.

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Credit: Raihan R Vadra

But, he argued, that legacy was likely not the reason the photographs were removed. “I feel that this would have happened to any artist that was displaying these images, right?”

“Tomorrow there may be another government who has a problem with another type of artwork… and then removing that artwork is wrong. Anyone removing any piece of art, or curtailing any freedoms of expressions, is wrong. I told them (i.e., Bikaner House) ‘I disagree with your policy’. But that is my problem. I cannot impose that on you, right?” he reasoned.

Vadra also flagged a trend against artists seen as ‘anti-establishment’. “Their work is being made to take a backseat and they’re constrained commercially and financially. Fewer people are inclined – maybe it is fear – to work with these artists and showcase that art,” he said.

As for his own work, Vadra admitted to a ‘sort of disconnect’ with the show over the excluded prints. “I feel that’s because I I have not been able to put out exactly what I wanted to put out.”

So will the show go on?

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Raihan Vadra’s Bikaner House show – No Idea is Final – is open, yes, and runs till October 25, and the rejected images – some of which he has shared with The Express – will be released later, possibly as a Take Two. “I think I’ll have to call that one ‘No Art Show is Final’,” he quipped.