The exhibition of photography “Svoboda, Gandhi, 169 days”, which takes place in Kerala Lithakala with academs, Thrissur. The exhibition will take place until 18 August | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Gandhiji should not be limited to history as a mere memory, but accepted as a living power of hope, said Sundar Sarukkai, founder of philosophers.
He responded after watching the exhibition of art “Svoboda, Gandhi, 169 days” in Kerala Lithakala with academies, jointly organized Samadarshi and Janadhiphya Mathethar Koottaym, Dr. Sarukkai explored “memory and ideology: poetics of the past and the future”.
“We all know who Gandhi was – the father of the nation, the moral leader, the man of many names. Yet, when he is not about him, he is never easy because of many stages of agreements and the disagreements that surround his life,” he said.
He pointed out that deeper engagement with Gandhi inevitably raises difficult questions-caste, religion and real meaning of non-violent. He noted that the current exhibition offers nostalgia, but real hope by pulling Gandhi’s last months in places like Noakhali and Bihar.
“What did these artists discover in these places? Nothing tangible. So they were looking for memories of Gandhi? No, they were looking for hope,” Dr. Sarukkai.
The exhibition also contains records of the assassination of Gandhi, but noted that people often avoid them. “This is because memory itself has been reconfigured. Only one part of this reconfiguration is forgotten. The real fact is that it has been removed from our textbooks and collective consciousness,” he said.
History and memory, he said, share the same dilemma: deciding what to talk about. “History wants to talk about the past as if it existed in a specific way. Memory also speaks of the past, but memories do not create history,” he concluded.
Published – August 13, 2025 20:49
