Mahatma Gandhi is an idea still walking through the consciousness of this nation. So when three artists come together to explore their understanding of Gandhian land rights movement, their works do not just impress but provoke

Eighty two years ago, Mahatma Gandhi walked for 23 days, clocking about 390 km in what can now be considered the walk of a lifetime, for Gandhi and perhaps for India as well. The Salt Satyagraha or the Dandi March added a simple, yet effective and a very fascinating facet to the largely non-violent freedom movement led by Gandhi. More than eight decades later, as the nation continues to go through a phase of change, churn and introspection?entwined in looking within as well as outside?the image of the old and skinny structure, accessorised with an old pair of round-frame spectacles and hand-spun khadi is perhaps the most invoked of all, by all. Gandhi walked all over India, and in the process walked into not only the history of the sub-continent and that of the world, but also into a nation?s destiny. ?A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history,? he had once said, and led a unique freedom movement that made him everything from a political case study to a metaphor.

The British are long gone but somewhere in the belly of India, protests remain. That?s the basic nature of politics, power, a struggle between those who control, those who want to control and those who are controlled. Contemporary India is facing challenges of petrifying magnitude, one of them, though seemingly very basic, is that of land, its people and livelihood. Perhaps in popular urban imagination, Naxalism has clouded this particular issue to a great extent. But there are non-violent Gandhian struggles also that hardly ever make it to prime time news. Land rights movements have dotted India?s post-independence history, politics and society. And Ekta Parishad, a two-decade-old people?s movement ?dedicated to the principles of non-violent action, aiming at social and land reform in India?, employs Gandhi?s philosophy of Satyagraha and walking as instruments of protest and change, with regard to the land issues in India, primarily over the question of people?s rights over their land (particularly the tribals), vis-a-vis the debate around modern paradigms of development and industrialisation.

Walking: A Dialogue Between Art and Social Movement, on at the India Habitat Centre in Delhi, is an exhibition that brings to the fore works inspired from and representative of the various land rights movements actively supported by Ekta Parishad over the years. Three artists?Simon Williams, Vikram Nayak, and Nesa Gschwend? explore through their works their understanding of a Gandhian land rights movement and ?reflect on the lives of people with no apparent economic or political influence who choose non-violent protest?the act of walking a long distance?to highlight contraventions of their legal rights?. All artists have had long standing associations with organisation and have travelled across rural and tribal India, and the exhibition has been coordinated and put together by Fran Wilde of the UK.

While Simon Williams, a photographer from the UK, explores multifarious aspects of social mobilisation through his pictures, Delhi-based artist Vikram Nayak?s evocative installations and paintings, and also a film, seek to represent the connection of adivasis with their land and nature, juxtaposing contrasting views of development and growth against a background of survival and cultural preservation for the tribal people. Swiss artist Nesa Gschwend?s two films and installation focus on human rights and people?s lives in a tribal village in Madhya Pradesh.

?In the cities, we have a very skewed and detached view of the land issues facing the country. We dismiss it as their (tribals) problem. We seem to think it doesn?t concern us now and it won?t concern us and our lives ever. Well, guess what? It does and it will. We thought that this dialogue, this thought and the issue at least needs to be made mainstream so that we at least face and think about issues that are affecting such a large part of our population. We as a nation and society need a solution and for that, we need a dialogue to start with,? says Nayak, outlining the idea behind the exhibition. But doesn?t it make this exhibition a show of simplistic activism on questions of extreme complexities? ?We are not claiming to have an off-hand solution to all the problems. Our objective is to bring the story of the voiceless and the deprived in the mainstream. That side is hardly ever batted for or heard. Should anyone brand this effort as mere idealistic activism? I don?t think so,? he responds.

Through last year, starting from October 2, the Parishad organised an almost year-long walk called the Samwad Yatra, going through most states in the country, starting from the tip of the Indian mainland in Kanyakumari. As many as 204 soil samples?from Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Maharashtara, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh? are pinned up on a wall at the exhibition. The dates of the current exhibition, apart from coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti, also coincide with the month-long padyatra, called Jan Satyagraha, a walk from Gwalior to Delhi.

Of course, a much larger canvas is required to sort out, even partially, the livelihood versus development debate and the question of land which is central to all development. But what it brings to the fore, apart from glaring questions we as a nation are asking ourselves, is the relevance of Gandhi and his ways in contemporary Indian politics and society. This country and its people have made Gandhi represent a lot of things and have probably objectified him time and again for their own interests. But there’s so much that he still stands for. More than anything, Gandhi is an idea, and perhaps and ideal, still walking through the consciousness of this nation.

The exhibition is on till October 10.