Latest news with #anti-CitizenshipAmendmentAct
Hindustan Times
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Street to studio, verse as art commodity
The spat between poet Aamir Aziz and artist Anita Dube over the reproduction of Aziz's popular poem, Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega, in Dube's recent exhibition in Delhi, Timanjala Ghar: Three Storey House, raises interesting questions about the ethics and process of art production. Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega, performed by Aziz first on YouTube in January 2020, had become an anthem of sort for the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protestors. Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters recited it at a protest meet against the incarceration of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, further expanding its audience. Dube reproduced the poem in her work, 'After Aamir Aziz', while acknowledging Aziz's authorship but, in the latter's words, 'without his knowledge, consent, credit, or compensation', which violate Indian copyright laws. Aziz has hinted that his hurt is more about the form and context in which the poem was reproduced as an art object. In fact, he has said 'if someone holds my poem on a placard at a protest, I stand with them'. He goes on to describe Dube's artwork as 'theft' and 'erasure', whereas Dube claims that her intent was to celebrate Aziz's verse. She has since acknowledged an 'ethical lapse' and the artist and gallery have decided not to put the work on sale. However, the controversy puts the spotlight on the practice of an artist working with a pre-existing piece of art. Art production is also a conversation with the past: Existing creations (epics, music compositions to photographs) often become ingredients of new works in new contexts. This process could be interpreted as inspiration, collaboration, appropriation, or erasure (as Aziz has said). In the absence of trust and transparency in the engagement, reproduction, renewal or reworking of existing material could be deemed unethical or dishonest. This underlies Aziz's fears that his political art has been appropriated and commodified in a studio environment, which produces a sanitised aesthetics that is in sharp contrast to the language of protest.
Mint
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
Mumbai poet Aamir Aziz accuses Anita Dube of ‘theft;' claims she ‘renamed, rebranded, resold' his anti-CAA poem
Aamir Aziz, a poet who gained prominence in 2019, and is known for his 'Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega' anti-CAA poem, recently accused artist Anita Dube of taking the same poem and turning into her 'art.' Accusing Anita Dube of 'theft', Aamir Aziz claimed his poem was 'written in velvet cloth, another carved in wood, hung inside a commercial white cube space, renamed, rebranded, and resold.' Aamir Aziz had published the poem on his YouTube channel in January 2020 during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens protests, which gained immense prominence. Later in 2020, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters had also recited an English translation of Aamir Aziz's poem during a London event. As per his series of latest posts on X, Aamir Aziz came to know of the incident after a friend of his saw Aamir's words stitched into a work on display at Vadehra Art Gallery in Delhi and informed him. Aamir Aziz claimed Anita Dube 'stole' his poemaa Earlier, the Vadehra Art Gallery had also shared a video on their Instagram account, of Anita Dube speaking about her artwork 'After Dr. Ambedkar'. Aziz has reportedly requested equal compensation for works incorporating text from his poem, and the issue is currently being discussed by the legal representatives of both parties. On April 20, just a day after Anita Dube's solo exhibition concluded, Aziz took to X to share a series of posts. 'My poem Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega has been used without my knowledge, consent, credit, or compensation by the internationally celebrated artist Anita Dube,' he wrote. Vadehra Art Gallery, in its latest statement, stated that following the controversy, the Gallery immediately 'ensured that the works Aamir Aziz has concerns with were not offered for sale.' Vadehra Art Gallery's statement Aamir Aziz further claimed that Anita Dube had been using his poem for years. He stated that Dube had used the poem in a 2023 exhibition titled Of Mimicry, Mimesis and Masquerade, curated by Arshiya Lokhandwala, and then again used it in the India Art Fair 2025. In 2020, a video of Pink Floyd's Roger Waters reciting an English translation of Indian poet-musician Aamir Aziz's 'Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega' went viral. Filmed at a London event calling for the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Waters introduced Aziz as a young poet from Delhi involved in protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and what he described as the 'fascist and racist Citizenship law.' Anita Dube is yet to comment about Aamir Aziz's claims. First Published: 21 Apr 2025, 09:34 PM IST
Scroll.in
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Scroll.in
‘This is theft, erasure': Poet Aamir Aziz accuses Anita Dube of plagiarism, artist apologises
Poet Aamir Aziz on Sunday accused artist Anita Dube of plagiarising one of his poems in a recent exhibition in Delhi. 'My poem Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega has been used without my knowledge, consent, credit or compensation by the internationally celebrated artist Anita Dube,' Aziz alleged on social media. Aziz first shared the poem on his YouTube channel in January 2020 amid the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests. Aziz said he was informed on March 18 that phrases from the poem had been 'stitched into a work on display' by Dube in her exhibition, which was titled Timanjala Ghar, or 'Three-storyed Home', at Vadehra Art Gallery in Delhi. In a post on Instagram, Aziz identified four pieces in which his poem was used. The artworks are abstract pieces made with fabric, wood and paint. The gallery said they would not be sold until the matter is resolved. Aziz's answers to questions sent by Scroll were awaited. This story will be updated once we receive a response. In a statement shared with Scroll on Monday, Dube said she hoped to 'resolve this issue in a fair manner'. 'I am replying to this social media trial initiated by Aamir Aziz with sadness,' Dube's statement read. 'I have been in love with Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega, especially some lines which swirled around in my head like dervishes… The intent of quoting words from Aamir Aziz's poem was to celebrate them.' Dube added: 'I realise that I made an ethical lapse in only giving credit, but not checking with Aamir using words from his poem. However I reached out and called him, apologized, and offered to correct this by remuneration. Aamir instead chose to send a legal notice, and then I had to go to a lawyer as well.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Aamir Aziz (@ Aziz said that when he confronted Dube, she tried to make her actions 'seem normal'. He accused her of 'lifting a living poet's work, branding it into her own, and selling it in elite galleries for lakhs of rupees'. Aziz also alleged that Dube had been plagiarising his poem 'for years', including at a 2023 exhibition titled Of Mimicry, Mimesis and Masquerade. 'She didn't mention this in our first conversation,' Aziz alleged. 'She hid it deliberately.' Aziz said he would not object to someone using his poem on a placard at a protest. However, in this case, his poem had been 'hung inside a commercial white cube space, renamed, rebranded and resold at an enormous price without ever telling me'. Aziz described the alleged plagiarism not as 'solidarity' or a conceptual borrowing, but 'theft' and 'erasure' of his work. 'This is entitled section of the art world doing what it does best extracting, consuming, profiting while pretending radical,' he said. He added: 'This is outright cultural extraction and plunder – stripping authors of autonomy while profiting off their voices, especially those from marginalised backgrounds. Their work is used without their knowledge, precisely so they can be excluded from the wealth produced through it.' And the irony? The poem raged against injustice. Anita Dube turned it into a luxury commodity—proof not only that injustice is alive, but that it now wears silk gloves and sells itself as art. That a poem written in defiance was gutted,defanged,and stitched into velvet for profit — Aamir Aziz (@AamirAzizJmi) April 20, 2025 Aziz said he had sent Dube legal notices demanding answers and accountability for the alleged plagiarism, but received 'half-truths and insulting offers' in return. The artwork was still on display at the exhibition, he said on Sunday. The Vadehra Art Gallery said on Monday that it had taken the situation 'very seriously'. 'We immediately ensured that the works Aamir Aziz has concerns with were not offered for sale,' the gallery said in a statement. 'We hope that the discussions that are ongoing between Aamir Aziz and Anita Dube can be resolved in amicable and constructive manner.' Sanjana Shah, an art collector and co-director of Mumbai's Tao Art Gallery, said that Aziz's allegations do not come under the grey area of 'debating whether any art is 'truly original''. 'This is clear malpractice and plagiarism,' Shah said on social media. 'It wasn't inspired from or credited as a collaboration. It was copy pasted with subterfuge.' Shah added that galleries and curators 'must do their due diligence' when featuring artists and, if alerted to incidents like this, must take action in good conscience.
Hindustan Times
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Poet Aamir Aziz accuses artist Anita Dube of using anti-CAA poem without credit, compensation
Aamir Aziz, a poet whose spoken word performances have achieved virality since 2019, accused artist Anita Dube of using lines from his poem, Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega, in her works without his 'knowledge, consent, credit, or compensation'. On April 20 -- a day after Dube's solo exhibition came to a close -- Aziz took to X (formerly Twitter) to write a series of posts. 'My poem Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega has been used without my knowledge, consent, credit, or compensation by the internationally celebrated artist Anita Dube,' he said. Aziz published the poem on his YouTube channel in January 2020 during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens protests. Dube, 66, an internationally renowned feminist artist and the 2018 curator of the Kochi Biennale, also publicly voiced her support of the protestors' democratic right to dissent at the time. A solo exhibition of Dube's works, titled 'Timanjala Ghar: Three Storey House', opened in New Delhi's Vadehra Art Gallery in the middle of March and ended on April 19. It carried a series of works including those that referenced words by revolutionaries such as Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King --- both of whom fought against racial discrimination and apartheid --- as well as Dalit icon Dr B.R Ambedkar, who chaired the committee that drafted the Constitution of India. A few works also incorporated Aziz's poem, one of which was titled, 'After Aamir Aziz'. Aziz also showed photographs of four of Dube's works which, he stated, contained words from his poem. He claimed that one of the works was retitled after he sent a notice [he did not mention to whom he sent the notice]. Another was not renamed despite his notice, he further contended. 'On 18th March 2025, a friend saw my words stitched into a work on display at Vadehra Art Gallery in Delhi and immediately called me. That was the first time I learned Anita Dube had taken my poem and turned it into her 'art.' When I confronted her, she made it seem normal like lifting a living poet's work, branding it into her own, and selling it in elite galleries for lakhs of rupees was normal. But the more I looked, the worse it got. I discovered she had been using my poem for years including in a 2023 exhibition titled Of Mimicry, Mimesis and Masquerade, curated by Arshiya Lokhandwala and then again displayed in the India Art Fair '25. She didn't mention this in our first conversation. She hid it deliberately,' he claimed. 'Let's be clear: if someone holds my poem in a placard at a protest, a rally, a people's uprising, I stand with them. But this is not that. This is my poem, written in velvet cloth, another carved in wood, hung inside a commercial white cube space, renamed, rebranded, and resold at an enormous price without ever telling me. This is not solidarity. This is not homage. This is not conceptual borrowing. This is theft. This is erasure. This is entitled section of the art world doing what it does best extracting, consuming, profiting while pretending radical,' he added. HT reached out to the artist for comment. The story will be updated when the artist sends her response. Aziz, whose poem's translated text was famously read out by Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters during a 2020 event to protest the incarceration of Wikileaks whistleblower Julian Assange, also accused Vadehra Art Gallery of refusing to take the work down when he asked them to do so. 'I have sent legal notices. Demanded answers. Asked for accountability. In return: silence, half-truths, and insulting offers. I asked them to take the work down. They refused,' he wrote. Aziz has reportedly asked for equal compensation for the works incorporating text from his poem, and the matter is being discussed by the parties' legal representatives. However, the works were taken off sale after Aziz got in touch with the gallerist and artist. 'Vadehra Art Gallery has always stood behind strong, political creative expressions. We believe in giving such a space to this community of practitioners because it is important and vital for our society. All the works that used a few words from his poem were attributed to him in the wall text. They were displayed alongside works that carried the words of Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Dr B.R Ambedkar, all of which were also attributed in the artwork captions,' said gallery director Roshni Vadehra. Earlier in the day, the gallery issued a statement: 'We have been in touch with Aamir Aziz and his legal representatives for over a month. This is a situation that we have taken very seriously. We immediately ensured that the works Aamir Aziz has concerns with were not offered for sale. We hope that the discussions that are ongoing between Aamir Aziz and Anita Dube can be resolved in an amicable and constructive manner. We remain committed to all artists and their creative expressions, and for building respectful dialogue across the art community.'
