ABSTRACT

This chapter explores three important but poorly understood genres of overtly political art in India: editorial cartoons, nationalist posters, political graffiti, or wall-writing. It considers two cases from India, the first concerning political wall-writing, and the second, political cartoons. Art in modern India has been shaped by the twin exigencies of British colonialism and Indian nationalism. Political power as control over territories and peoples was reiterated through numerous visual ethnographies and display of objects and peoples in colonial exhibitions, each time rehearsing imperial superiority and the necessity of British rule for a people deemed not yet fit for governance. Political cartoons and social caricatures developed alongside these nationalist representations, as pictorial journalism flourished and a bevy of illustrated books and magazines became the cultural staple of the literate classes. Political cartoons are meant to grab attention and seek the engagement of the reader on the issue portrayed through humor.