Aicon Contemporary is delighted to invite you to the Opening Reception & Press Preview for Inappropriated – The Toy Gandhi on October 2nd 2019, from 6:00 – 8:00 PM. The exhibit will show new sculptural work by the Kolkata based Debanjan Roy, and coincides with the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Mahatma Gandhi has been appropriated by all comers. Civil rights activists have marched on Washington wearing his signature cap. Apple has put Gandhi on their advertisement encouraging buyers to “Think Different”. Dictators have issued postage stamps with his picture on it. Restaurant owners have named their all-you-can-eat-buffet establishments after him, Indeed, the organization his assassin belonged to, has co-opted his legacy. Gandhi, the icon, if not the man, has become all things to all people, a veritable toy.
The opening will also feature a lecture by Prof. Sumathi Ramaswamy, the James B. Duke Professor of History, and Chair of the History Department, Duke University. Prof. Ramaswamy is a cultural historian of South Asia and the British Empire. Her research over the last few years has been largely in the areas of visual studies, the history of cartography, and gender. She has studied and written extensively about Gandhi and his role in India’s visual culture.