The Singh Twins

This artwork is a response to the Indian government’s passing of three controversial farm laws* in 2020 enabling private corporations to control the sales, pricing and storage of agricultural produce in India – regulations dubbed the ‘black laws’ by India’s farming communities who came out in their thousands to protest against them, claiming that the laws offered them no protection from market forces and put their farms and livelihoods at risk. As the party responsible for introducing the laws, Modi’s BJP government is symbolically depicted within the artwork as an Indian tiger dressed in the garb of an Indian king and a pirate, carving up and handing India’s green agricultural land to a monkey denoting corporate greed. The monkey is dressed in the uniform of the colonial East India Company which, independently and also as an agent of the British Empire, land-grabbed, exploited and impoverished India’s agricultural communities. In this respect Modi’s government is portrayed as behaving no better than India’s former imperial masters. This parallel between past imperial trade practices and current trade policy in India is reinforced by the emaciated figure of a Bengal farmer, representing the Indigo famines that occurred during the 19th century under the British Raj, when farmers were forced to grow cash crops for British export, rather than food. Two Indian farmers are shown being forced to pull a ‘Modi’s Bill’ cart which crushes their community and food crops under its wheels. The suggestion that Indian politics today walks in the shoes of the British Empire is further symbolised by the British Imperial State Crown, placed on a gilded chair emblazoned with the Ashok Chakra (the country’s state emblem), denoting the Indian seat of power. Under the tiger’s belt is a scroll inscribed with the words ‘Media Control’. This is inspired by an Amnesty International report (9 February 2021) which condemned attempts by the Modi government to crush farmer protests and silence critics of the farm laws through manipulation of the Indian press, suspension of internet services, and social media censorship.  Written on the plinth which supports the archway above the tiger are verses from the hymns of Guru Nanak (1469–1539) which describe the falsehood and tyranny of his times. The description resonates with quotations from news websites and social media (in the surrounding border of the archway) which highlight the Indian authorities’ unfair and heavy-handed response to protestors. Further news clippings around the border reveal some of the sources of inspiration behind the key themes explored within the artwork.