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I rarely post directly political content on my Instagram handle (that’s reserved for Facebook). But I’m making an exception here because the matter concerns a young artist and I think that everyone should know about this. So bear with me.Ms. Srishti Gupta, a young artist based in Delhi, was arrested from the Botanical Garden metro station in Noida by the Uttar Pradesh (Noida) police on the 11th of April, following the protests by Industrial workers against poor wages and unhealthy work conditions. I have heard that Ms.Gupta had gone to attend some protest meetings and had participated in a street play. None of these is a crime. Srishti Gupta has been incarcerated in Luksar District Jail in Greater Noida. Petitions for her bail to the Sessions Court have been dismissed.She has remained in prison for the last 41 days. At the time of her arrest she was not told the reason as to why she was being arrested.

Srishti Gupta is a member of the community of artists in Delhi. She has been a regular attendeee of exhibitions and discussions. She is talented, intelligent and a compassionate person with a keen sense of solidarity. She graduated from Kala Bhavan in Shantiniketan. I greatly enjoyed interacting with her during a workshop that I conducted in Kala Bhavan, Shantiniketan. She had showed me some of her artistic work and poetry and I certainly think that she is a very promising artist and poet. People like her should be free to practice their art, to contribute to society with their generous heart and imaginative mind, not be behind bars.

I want to know what prevents the artists community in Delhi from taking a concerted stand against her unjust incarceration. Is it lack of knowlege, indifference or fear?

I hope people will consider this post thoughtfully and find it passible to respond in a timely, effective and meaningful manner.

Thank you for your attention. Also, I do not know who has made this photographic portrait of Ms. Gupta and that is why I have not been able to give credit for it. If I am informed of the photographer, I will certainly credit them.

#FreeSrishtiGupta
#freeallpoliticalprisoners

I went to see the imprisoned artist Ms. Srishti Gupta in The Gautam Buddha Nagar District Jail in Luksar, Greater Noida, earlier today. I will write about this experience in greater detail soon.

But for now I justwanted to let everyone know that Srishti is in good health and high spirits, and that she is not letting incarceration get her down. Prison is never easy, but not even the cruelest state (and this is a pretty cruel one) can rob someone like Srishti of her smile.

I took a sketchbook, a box of colour pencils and a notebook for her, which she was more than happy to receive.

Her friend and I bought groceries, vegetables, fruit and pickles from the prison store for Srishti and her co-prisoner comrades and I had a roughly fifteen minute conversation with her in the ‘Mulaqat/Meeting Room’ of the jail.

Srishti told me to let everyone know that she is very moved by, appreciative of, and grateful for,all the support, solidarity and love that is coming her way.

She said that she keeps herself busy with reading books borrowed from the prison library (a lot of Premchand) and also by doing art workshops with the women inmates and their children. She has also been drawing portraits of some of her fellow prisoners.

Throughout the time she spoke with me, she sported that beautiful and courageous smile. Her eyes were full of light. Her spirit shone through the wire mesh of the screen that separated us. This regime is so stupid, perverse and cruel that it must waste this precious talent and keep this artist, this wonderful young woman, behind the bars of prison. #FreeSrishtiGupta #FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners #freeworkersandartistsofnoida

I went to see the imprisoned artist Ms. Srishti Gupta in The Gautam Buddha Nagar District Jail in Luksar, Greater Noida, earlier today. I will write about this experience in greater detail soon.

But for now I justwanted to let everyone know that Srishti is in good health and high spirits, and that she is not letting incarceration get her down. Prison is never easy, but not even the cruelest state (and this is a pretty cruel one) can rob someone like Srishti of her smile.

I took a sketchbook, a box of colour pencils and a notebook for her, which she was more than happy to receive.

Her friend and I bought groceries, vegetables, fruit and pickles from the prison store for Srishti and her co-prisoner comrades and I had a roughly fifteen minute conversation with her in the ‘Mulaqat/Meeting Room’ of the jail.

Srishti told me to let everyone know that she is very moved by, appreciative of, and grateful for,all the support, solidarity and love that is coming her way.

She said that she keeps herself busy with reading books borrowed from the prison library (a lot of Premchand) and also by doing art workshops with the women inmates and their children. She has also been drawing portraits of some of her fellow prisoners.

Throughout the time she spoke with me, she sported that beautiful and courageous smile. Her eyes were full of light. Her spirit shone through the wire mesh of the screen that separated us. This regime is so stupid, perverse and cruel that it must waste this precious talent and keep this artist, this wonderful young woman, behind the bars of prison. #FreeSrishtiGupta #FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners #freeworkersandartistsofnoida

This is tomorrow at 5:30pm, The Bookshop Inc, Lodhi Colony!

Next Friday, we celebrate, honour, investigate, and remember a life that stands in place as a symbol of the nation-state's resistance to citizen awareness and inquiry.

Join us with Shuddhabrata Sengupta, Banojyotsna Lahiri, and Anirban Bhattacharya as we come together and discuss Umar Khalid and His World, an anthology published by the fierce Three Essays Collective, bringing together letters, essays, reportage, poetry, and reflections engaging directly with the political conditions that shape dissent and incarceration in contemporary India.

Entry via RSVP only. Register using the link in our bio.

'By performing depth.'

Artist Shuddhabrata Sengupta on my podcast.

Full video on YouTube. Link in bio

#ArtAndIdeas #Depth

A security guard kept returning to the same artwork at the museum.
Over time, he began seeing animals in it.

“Good art,” Shuddhabrata Sengupta says on my podcast, “gives the wandering mind its freedom.”

Full video on YouTube. Link in bio

#culture #storytelling

In ‘An Occasional Untimeliness’, Raqs Media Collective sample some of the many ways in which they understand and practice temporality and the art of being ‘off-time’. ‘Occasional Untimeliness’ ties into Raqs’ sense of being sometimes at a tangent to the sequential exigencies and anxieties of modernity and of reading the image of time as an arrow.

في‭ ‬‮ "عدم‭ ‬راهنية‭ ‬عارضة‮" تستكشف‭ ‬جماعة‭ ‬راكس‭ ‬ميديا‭ ‬كولكتيف‭ ‬بعض‭ ‬الطرق‭ ‬المتعددة‭ ‬التي‭ ‬تفهم‭ ‬بها‭ ‬الزمن‭ ‬وتمارسه،‭ ‬وفنّ‭ ‬الوجود‭ ‬‮ "خارج‭ ‬الزمان"يرتبط‭ ‬هذا‭ ‬العمل‭ ‬بإحساس‭ ‬راكس‭ ‬بالوجود‭ ‬أحيانًا‭ ‬على‭ ‬هامش‭ ‬المتطلبات‭ ‬المتسلسلة‭ ‬وقلق‭ ‬الحداثة،‭ ‬وبمقاومة‭ ‬قراءة‭ ‬الزمن‭ ‬بوصفه‭ ‬سهمًا‭ ‬يتجه‭ ‬في‭ ‬مسار‭ ‬واحد‭.‬
‭______________________
on Time examines how we perceive time. It challenged the notions of time as a linear path and understanding it as a cyclical rhythm.
on Time was moderated by Nour Ibrahim (@nour_ib_ ).

تقدم نقاشات عن الزمان ه فهم نقدي لكيفية إدراكنا للزمن، حيث تحدّت مفاهيم الزمن كمسار خطي وفهمه كإيقاع دوري. وسلّط المشاركون الضوء على قصور
أدارت نور إبراهيم حوارات عن الزمان

The opening session entitled "on Time"aimed to provide a critical understanding of how we perceive time. It challenged the notions of time as a linear path and understanding it as a cyclical rhythm. The contributors highlighted the limitations of standardised time and its relation to power structures. The session provided different ways to perceive time as a way to expand our imagination. Contributors to the session were Raqs Media Collective (Monica Narula and Shuddhabrata Sengupta) and Léopold Lambert (the Funambulist). The session was moderated by Nour Ibrahim.

هدفت الجلسة الأولى والتي كانت بعنوان "عن الزمان" إلى تقديم فهم نقدي لكيفية إدراكنا للزمن، حيث تحدّت مفاهيم الزمن كمسار خطي وفهمه كإيقاع دوري. وسلّط المشاركون الضوء على قصور الزمن المعياري وعلاقته ببنى السلطة. وقدّمت الجلسة طرقًا مختلفة لإدراك الزمن كوسيلة لتوسيع آفاق الخيال. المشاركون في الجلسة هم مجموعة رقص ميديا (مونيكا نارولا وشودابارتا سينغبوتا) وليوبولد لامبرت (ذا فونامبوليست). أدارت الجلسة نور إبراهيم.

Image credits || حقوق الصورة: @thefunambulistmagazine

This is tomorrow at 6pm, Bangalore! Please attend!

Watch your step.

Some portraits from the book launch of UMAR KHALID AND HIS WORLD. Available online and at major bookstores.

Shuddhabrata Sengupta is an artist and curator with Raqs Media Collective.

Some portraits from the book launch of UMAR KHALID AND HIS WORLD. Available online and at major bookstores.

Shuddhabrata Sengupta is an artist and curator with Raqs Media Collective.

Some portraits from the book launch of UMAR KHALID AND HIS WORLD. Available online and at major bookstores.

Shuddhabrata Sengupta is an artist and curator with Raqs Media Collective.

‘Umar Khalid and His World’ - released at the Press Club of India, New Delhi, on 17th February, 2026,4:00 pm. In this picture, from left to right, are - Shuddhabrata Sengupta, Neha Dixit, Saib Bilawal, Srinivasan Jain, Banojyotsna Lahiri, and Anirban Bhattacharya.