Self Penalty Box

Tushar Joag calls himself a public interventions artist.

Tushar Joag calls himself a public interventions artist. To understand what that strange nomenclature means, consider what he did last week.

For seven days, Tushar enclosed himself in a 5×3 feet space and during all his waking hours filled notebooks writing, ‘I will not lose faith in Indian judiciary and democra­cy’. This was done at Clark House in Colaba, Mumbai, as part of an art project called Right To Dissent, initiated to question unconstitutional forms of State repression through Joag’s confinement, an art exhibition and a panel discussion.

The space which Joag occupied had an attached toilet and a small slit through which food and water could be passed. There were notebooks kept for visitors to write the same line. All notebooks were to be sent to the Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily. Visitors came, peeped through  a mesh of threads to see Joag and exclaimed, “How has he been staying like this!”

On Monday evening, by the time Tushar emerged, he had filled up seven notebooks; visitors had filled up three.
He said, “It was a satirical thing. But I wish there were more notebooks collected, like a hundred plus. It would have made an impact. Still, let’s wait and see. We are hoping to get some notebooks by post as well. My act was just symbolic. Yes, I did experience isolation, but it was more of an introspective space, more like a salute to people like Binayak Sen who actually go out there and do things.”

Sen was there too. After attending the exhibition, he said, “I am moved by Tushar’s performance.”  He said he is going to start a signature campaign to gather one million signatures asking for the repeal of sedition laws.

About The Author

Kruti Y