Artistic Expression in Times of Conflict: How Global Turmoil Shapes Contemporary Art
In an era defined by charged geopolitics and widespread crackdowns on civil liberties, the art world finds itself deeply entangled in the currents of global conflict. The impact of polarization is palpable, manifesting in exclusions at major international events and sparking crucial conversations about freedom of expression.
Censorship and Controversy in Major Exhibitions
Recent incidents highlight the delicate balance between artistic freedom and cultural sensitivity. At the ongoing Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Tom Vattakuzhy's exhibition faced temporary closure last year following protests from religious groups. The controversy centered on Supper at a Nunnery, an interpretation of The Last Supper that some found provocative in its treatment of Biblical themes.
Similarly, for the upcoming 2026 Venice Biennale, South Africa's Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture blocked artist Gabrielle Goliath's entry Elegy. The work, which depicts gender-based violence and references Gaza, was deemed too politically charged for inclusion. These cases underscore how geopolitical tensions increasingly influence curatorial decisions and artistic visibility on the global stage.
Historical Precedents: Art Forged in Conflict
Throughout history, cultural practitioners have responded to moments of turmoil with profound creativity, giving rise to significant art movements that continue to influence contemporary practice. In his 2024 article The Impact of War on Art, published on the Naturalist Gallery of Contemporary Art website, artist Gavin Coates identifies Dadaism and Surrealism as two movements born from conflict.
Dadaism emerged during World War I, with artists like Marcel Duchamp and Hannah Höch employing absurdity and chaos to reject conventional aesthetics. Their work mirrored the senselessness they perceived in the war, creating a radical break from traditional artistic norms.
Surrealism arose in the aftermath of World War I, with figures like Salvador Dalí and André Breton channeling trauma into dreamlike, unsettling works that critiqued the social and political conditions of their time. Perhaps the most iconic political statement in art history remains Pablo Picasso's Guernica (1937), a powerful response to the bombing of a Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.
Indian Art and the Legacy of Trauma
The trauma of Partition left an indelible mark on Indian modern art, influencing the practices of Satish Gujral, Krishen Khanna, Haren Das, and Ganesh Haloi. As Ankan Kazi writes in the essay Finding a Refuge: Indian Modern Art and Migration on the DAG website, Haren Das continued to depict rural idylls from his native Dinajpur district in modern-day Bangladesh.
These idealized landscapes of rural East Bengal served as psychic salves for displaced communities, allowing them to carry an idea of home with them. Later, the communal violence following the 1992 riots prompted artists like Vivan Sundaram, Navjot Altaf, and Atul Dodiya to adopt the role of witness in their practices, documenting social fractures through their work.
The Rise of Auto-Narrative in Contemporary Practice
Today's artists face not just isolated conflicts but the cumulative weight of daily violence and systemic inequality. This has led to significant shifts in artmaking and curation, particularly in the Global South. According to curator Shaunak Mahbubani, cultural workers are creating independent pockets of solidarity outside Western institutional frameworks.
Examples include the Gaza Biennale, taking place across 15 cities including Berlin, New York, and Sarajevo, and the 36th Bienal de São Paulo curated by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung. Both platforms emphasize counter-narratives and polyphonous dialogue.
A key development is the rise of auto-narrative, where artists speak from personal, ancestral, and communal experiences to assert their right to tell stories on their own terms. Artists like Sajan Mani, Rajyashri Goody, Parag Tandel, Rah Naqvi, Vikrant Bhise, and Saviya Lopes are at the forefront of this movement.
Materiality and Personal History
Mahbubani explores this development in the ongoing exhibition Autopoiesis: A Song for Resuscitation at Arthshila Goa (until 1 March). The show features six artists from peninsular South Asia who engage with expanded poetic forms to revive wounded archives.
Mumbai-based artist Jahangir Jani presents abstract mixed media paintings partially created by burning everyday materials, purging memories of past queer lovers through transformative fire. Priyageetha Dia's CGI plantation erupts in flame, protesting atrocities against indentured laborers, spurred by beats of the Tamil Dalit funeral practice Oppari.
Sajan Mani, hailing from a family of rubber tappers, uses his body's labor to enliven radical anti-caste poetry in a 15-foot scroll. Saviya Lopes challenges national boundaries by transmuting her grandfather's migration archive onto muslin cloth. As Mahbubani notes, "Emerging from these tender resonances across lived experiences, we see that grief, resistance, healing and ancestral invocation are deeply intertwined."
Beyond Labels: Complex Intersections
Curator Girish Shahane observes that the "era of the transcultural superstar curator" is fading, replaced by questions about representation and identity. Artists and curators are moving beyond narrow labels like "queer," "political," or "anticaste" art to explore complex intersections through personal lenses.
Shahane's exhibition Teeming Earth at Anant Art Gallery in New Delhi brings together 27 contemporary artists including Abhishek Narayan Verma, Atul Dodiya, and Sudhir Patwardhan. While seemingly commenting on the Anthropocene, the show offers intimate understandings of how human progress has both nurtured and endangered the world.
Shahane cites examples like Awadesh Tamrakar, who uses materials from copper utensil making to discuss belonging and displacement, and Al-Qawi Nanawati, who creates paper from her late mother's clothes as catharsis. These practices demonstrate how personal materials and motifs foreground lived experiences.
Collective Healing Through Personal Narrative
Importantly, the auto-narrative movement is not rooted in individualism. By centering their lived experiences, artists create space for collective healing. Their work serves as both example and articulation of stored pain, offering pathways toward understanding and reconciliation in fractured times.
As geopolitical tensions continue to shape our world, contemporary art remains a vital site for processing conflict, asserting identity, and imagining alternative futures. From historical movements forged in war to today's auto-narrative practices, artists continue to respond to turmoil with creativity that both documents and transcends the conflicts of their times.
