The Face of Rage and Resistance

I created a series of satirical editorial illustrations to comment on the massive protests in India in Aug 2019 against the Citizenship Amendment Act( CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC), and National Population Register (NPR). These were the government’s attempts to discriminate and grant citizenship basis faith and religion, a divisive and fascist move against the country’s secular constitution. These protestors were subjected to brutal attacks by police and goons.

With the help of this publication, I want to explore and capture the magnitude of a surge in political consciousness amongst the previously apolitical sections, represented through artistic and creative interventions that mark this leaderless movement.

The publication is divided into two sections inspired by the Modernist and Post Modernist art movements.

BOOK ONE

The Modernist movement captures the agenda and expressions of the protests against CAA and draws parallels to the protests of freedom fighters against the British colonial rule in India.

The cover for the first section shows a whirlwind of protestors who unified with the aim to protect the democratic soul of the country.

This is a comment on the government's ruthless and irresponsible reaction to citizen's democratic right to protest.

The extremities of violence that the police resorted to pushing back the protestors, especially the students and youth, was shocking. The police blindly thrashed students who were not even involved in the protests by forcefully entering libraries, classrooms and restrooms on the college campus, vandalizing the property and destroying the sanctity of educational institutes.

The protestors were writing postcards to the Chief Justice of India to have the Supreme Court hear their voice and concerns on the matter.

A continuation of the previous illustration.

For the first time, women, youth, and previously politically silent people are taking to the streets and using both technology and traditional means to voice their concerns and take a stand. This illustration is a tribute to all the women of the Shaheen Bagh protest in New Delhi who have joined together against the communal government.

The anti-CAA protests unified India in an extraordinary way where artists and designers, poets, writers, and film-makers are using art to dissent and express their voice while they continued to be attacked by the police in brutal ways.

BOOK TWO

The Post Modernist ideals build the framework for a post-truth era where information and news are manipulated to rip off its actual intent and purpose. Hence, protestors are vulnerable to discredit if their volatile expressions are irresponsible and their subject matter (unintentionally) is either misconstrued to be used against them.

To abstract post-truth, I wanted to play with the meaning of distortion through the relationship of color, shapes, space, and typography to communicate a sense of false impression and create a psychedelic effect. The copy comprises quotes and personal interpretations.

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