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.

PREMIUM