What the pandemic has revealed about the arts in India

News: Pandemic has effected probably every sector of the world, but Art is one area where its impact and its effect doesn’t get the required attention. 

How has the pandemic affected art and the artists? 

Pandemic has brought the digital medium at the core of every sector and has made the content creation a more powerful and impactful genre than the local art. 

It has brought about the dangers of allowing social media to dictate art-making, while the local artists struggle to keep their artistry alive. 

With the onset of pandemic, they have encountered several problems like public spaces becoming “no-entry” zones, tackling the unpredictability of the pandemic. 

This has caused emotional distress and economic ruin to the small artists who do not have the resources to bridge the digital divide.  

Artists who have been unable to work on the digital space have been left behind. 

What is the way forward? 

The pandemic has forced the art fraternity to face tough questions like what it means to be an artist, the role of technology, the lack of any economic fallback and the relationship of the artist with the audience. 

Concrete steps are needed to plan for those who are on the margins or have been pushed to the margins. We as a society need to ensure that the art and the artists do not disappear. 

It is society’s responsibility to take care of its artists and ensure that tenets of social justice are followed.

Source: This post is based on the article “What the pandemic has revealed about the arts in India” published in The Indian express on 7^th Jan 2022.