Aziz accuses artist of using Delhi protest poem without credit

Poet Aamir Aziz, known for his viral spoken word performances since 2019, has accused artist Anita Dube of using lines from his poem Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega without his “knowledge, consent, credit, or compensation.”

Aziz has reportedly demanded adequate compensation, and legal representatives for both parties are currently in talks.

In a series of posts on X on April 20, a day after Dube’s solo exhibition concluded, Aziz wrote: “My poem Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega has been used without my knowledge, consent, credit, or compensation by the internationally celebrated artist Anita Dube.”

Aziz first performed the poem on YouTube in January 2020 during the anti-CAA and NRC protests. Dube, 66, a celebrated feminist artist and the 2018 curator of the Kochi Biennale, had also publicly supported the protests at the time.

Dube’s solo show, Timanjala Ghar: Three Storey House, ran from mid-March to April 19 at Vadehra Art Gallery in Delhi. The exhibition included a series of works referencing revolutionaries like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr, and Dr BR Ambedkar — alongside at least five works that incorporated Aziz’s words. One work was titled “After Aamir Aziz.”

Aziz also pointed to another of Dube’s works that referenced his poem and was shown at an exhibition in Mumbai in 2023.

Aziz shared photographs of four pieces displayed at Vadehra, claiming they used his lines. According to him, one work was renamed after a legal notice was sent — though he did not specify to whom — but another retained its original name despite the notice.

“Let’s be clear: if someone holds my poem on a placard at a protest, I stand with them. But this is not that. This is my poem, written in velvet cloth, carved in wood, hung in a commercial white cube, renamed, rebranded, and resold at an enormous price without telling me. This is not solidarity. This is theft. This is erasure,” Aziz wrote.

Responding to the allegations, Dube said she was saddened by the “social media trial” and admitted to an “ethical lapse.” She acknowledged being deeply moved by Aziz’s poem and said she used the lines in the “spirit of Commons and Copy Left.”

“I realise I made an ethical lapse in only giving credit but not checking with Aamir before using his poem. I called him, apologised, and offered remuneration. Aamir instead sent a legal notice, and I had to consult a lawyer,” her statement read.

Aziz also accused Vadehra Art Gallery of refusing to remove the artworks when requested. “I have sent legal notices, demanded accountability. In return: silence, half-truths, and insulting offers. I asked them to take the work down. They refused,” he posted.

The works were eventually taken off sale after Aziz contacted the gallery and artist.

The gallery responded, defending its approach. “Vadehra Art Gallery has always stood behind strong, political creative expressions. We give space to such practitioners because it is vital for society. All works using words from his poem were attributed to him in the wall texts, alongside quotes from Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, and Dr Ambedkar, which were also properly credited,” said gallery director Roshni Vadehra.

According to senior advocate Chander Mohan Lall, an expert on intellectual property law, India’s copyright laws prohibit any reproduction of a work without a license. “Even partial reproduction of a literary work, such as converting it into visual art, requires a license. India does not have a de minimis exception like the US,” Lall said.

Aziz’s poem gained international attention when it was recited by Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters in 2020 at an event protesting the incarceration of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.