The idea of India

Part VIII of The Constitution of India depicts art in the Gupta period. Pic courtesy/Chennai Tricolour Initiative

Art was very political during India's Independence movement. During the time of artist Nandalal Bose, Santiniketan was the hub. Before illustrating The Constitution of India, he had worked on creating the Haripura Panels. He took art out of the aristocratic realm and made it more about the common man. When the Constituent Assembly came together, it was almost instinctive to ask Bose to illustrate it. India was a different country at the time, with different languages, religions, and customs, and I believe that they were trying to build one nation and in some ways, the art of the Constitution was also part of that aim," says Shruti Viswanathan, founder of The Equals Project, an initiative that has now joined hands with art gallery Art and Charlie, to launch the effort, Art and the Constitution. This kicks off a series of events leading up to India's Independence Day on August 15. The art will explore the 22 illustrations included in the original manuscript of The Constitution of India. On August 1, they are set to conduct their first Instagram Live session that will introduce participants to the art that accompanies the document.

"We're not trying to bring attention to the content of the document in any way. It's purely about the art," informs Ayesha Parikh, founder, Art and Charlie. "Bose, after rejecting the Western art concept, made his own school, Kala Bhavan in Santiniketan, where he and his students explored Indian art forms. All these students were also involved in the process and some of them even have their signatures on the document at the bottom of the page," she adds.

Ayesha Parikh and Shruti Viswanathan

Through their Instagram platform, the duo plans to launch talks and live sessions, along with factual and informative posts on the illustrations, and collaborations with artists. On August 15, a free virtual session helmed by them will invite participants to write the Preamble together as a group activity over Zoom. "We're going to do one event a week. We will also conduct artist features, with artists who've created certain illustrations for us and other works that we've collated," concludes Parikh.

On August 1, 12 pm onwards
Log on to @the.equals.project or @artandcharlie on Instagram
Free