Behind the Politics of Identity

Art is a form of expression of human creation and skill. Artists use their creativity to express their thoughts through the means of art be it through the form of sculptures, paintings or dance. Art in recent times has been also defined as the identity of a society. But what happens when art gets paired up with politics?

Speaking on the issue of identity politics, were artists Meeta Pandit, a classical singer Justin Mcarthy who is a dancer, Maya Krishna  Rao, a theater artist and Ileana Citaristi, a dancer, who discussed the issue of identity politics at the International Symposium of Creativity and Freedom, organised by Alka Pande over two days. The discussion was moderated by Arshiya Sethi.

Identity Politics is something which is very vast and it can be interpreted in a different way, says Ileana Citaristi. She says, “Identity politics can be applied on how the the performing arts are creating an identity.” She goes on to add that identity politics could also be applied to how a region identifies itself through a performing art with reference to Odisha and their dance form Odissi. “I think that whatever choice we make is also a political statement,” she says. She later elaborates the various aspects of Sita; the mythological character such as the one who suffered injustice, the good wife.

Meeta Pandit believes that one cannot take liberties in classical music as it may lose its authenticity. She adds, “A lot of artists use embellishments which are non-classical or semi-classical. So the sanctity of that is lost.” She also feels that there is a full range of creativity and it is due to these creative elements that the ragas are fresh even today.

Justin Mcarthy talks about the aspects of Bharatanatyam in a way that it shapes an identity. He divides the two words, ‘politics and identity’. He calls Bharatanatyam as one of the privileged dance forms. “When I started Bharatanatyam, I never thought that I am not a woman, a south Indian, an Indian and now sometimes though these ideas creep into my consciousness. I wonder if I sometimes am doing the right thing or not. Do I have the right to do this,” he elaborates on the Bharatanatyam being politicised. He also pin points the economical aspect of these art forms in terms of how do artists earn a living from pursuing their art. He highlighted some choreography where he revealed that the tweaked a few parts of history.

Maya Krishna Rao believes that identity politics means collective action based on embodied expression based on class, gender, caste etc. “Performing arts and identity politics would mean a representation of that embodied experience or of its interest,” she adds. She believes that the answer to the question if an artist  creates and represents identity politics as a complicated one  as it depends on the questions ‘why’ ‘when’, ‘where’ and the context. The panel concluded with the notion that the identity politics could be simply seen as how a person sees themselves and how they want to be seen.