Freedom Issue 2017: Impressions

Gandhi on My Canvas

An artist of non-violence

Atul Dodiya | 10 Aug, 2017

“In 1997, when India was celebrating 50 years of independence, we were all happy and joyous about Free India, and at the same time very sad, thinking about the communal violence and intolerance around; I was wondering as an artist how I shall deal with these mixed emotions… and exactly at that moment I came across this statement by Mahatma Gandhi:

“I am not a seer, rishi, or a philosopher of non-violence; I am only an artist of non-violence and desire to develop the art of non-violence in the realm of resistance.”

This quotation triggered a series of paintings, and it’s still on…