Aditya Panikker's Visual Narrative On Detention Camps Is A Lived Reality For Many In India Today

Aditya Panikker, who hails from Kochi is currently working as a regional manager at a pro-audio company in France. He picked up the camera last year as a hobby, and has been ideating through photographs ever since. A little bit of research got him interested in the dark reality of detention camps in India, which have increased in number since the present Indian government’s nationwide NRC exercise.

Detention camps are a lived reality in India today. For decades now, Assam – the only state to have an NRC – has been sending foreigners (those who couldn’t make it to the revised list of citizens) to detention centres across districts. They are also being built in states like Karnataka and West Bengal. Not too long ago, Maharashtra too had similar plans. India has 10 detention camps, out of which six are in Assam, and the seventh one is being still built in the state near Goalpara.

Aditya has been reading about the issue for over a year now, and when the lockdown began, he started trying more rigorously to get an idea of the situation. “A few reports started coming out, and I realised that there is a dearth of information available online and whatever information was available, was rather scattered. There was nothing that was linking it all together. My content, therefore, sort of tries to do just that – bring it all together,” says Aditya.

On being asked about the justification of the entire NRC exercise, Aditya claims that “legality has never been the gold-standard of morality”, and believes that “there is no grey area in this, as many people would like to believe. If someone is being harmed intentionally, or being oppressed or insulted by law, it is wrong.”

His video, which, in a way, simplifies the entire CAA-NRC issue in India, is an attempt to make people read about the issue in detail, and “nudge the ones who are being neutral in this point, to pick a side.”

Quick questions with Aditya

I. Tell us something about your recent visual storytelling project

The series is called “resource sharing”, that’s all it is. I just wanted to use my privilege to create something that would allow people to start their own journey towards speaking up for the oppressed. The idea is to collate all the information through proper research and present it in a non-condescending manner. The target group are the ones who don’t have time to do their own research and choose to remain comfortably apolitical or neutral. I’d like to help them take a stand with this series. As Dan Brown wrote, “In dangerous times, there is no sin greater than inaction.”

II. Who are the people that inspired you in your artistic career and why?

There are a lot of people who’ve inspired me, but most of them were not artists. My parents taught me to question everything ; they taught me to self-correct and stay grounded. Thanks to them, in everything that I do, from art to professional work, I try to be as genuine as possible. Conversations with strangers have opened me up as a human being ; they have taught me the importance of looking at things from multiple perspectives. Finally, I’ve had the privilege of always being surrounded by feminists, regardless of their gender. They helped me unlearn a lot of toxic masculine traits and be a bit more sensitive and empathetic. These people have inspired me in more ways than I can convey ; my art would’ve been very different without them.

III. What is your creative process like?

It’s very fluid. I spend a lot of time experimenting with new tools, be it musical instruments or design software. Since I don’t rely on art to feed me, I have the freedom to play around. In the case of these videos that I make, specifically the resource sharing series, I usually spend months collating all the scattered information, verifying them, learning new techniques to convey them effectively and re-verifying them. I am not bound by time or deadlines, so I put a lot of effort into very tiny things that most people may consider irrelevant. This really gives me a lot of joy. Essentially, my process depends on the art I am trying to create.

IV. Any Indian contemporaries of yours whose work you admire?

I love a lot of artists, but these ones are my favourite – @oneirataxian.zg @paulaandtheassociates, and @viralworks.in .

V. What is the first piece of art/photograph/film/music that impacted you deeply and why?

I am frequently moved by art and artists, mainly by the ones who are trying to bring some social change. I picked up the camera for the first time last year and initially, it was just for fun, but after looking at the works of people like David Goldblatt and Lewis Wickes Hine, I realized that art is a lot more satisfying when it has some purpose. In a way, they helped me understand what I really wanted to do.

VI. If you could propose and lead a project with the Indian Government, what would it be?

Oh, so many! However, I doubt if I am the kind of person the current government wants to work with right now. Some day, I’d like to work on projects related to education reforms, mainly the inclusion of mental health, sex-ed, caste conversations and contemporary history as un-graded but mandatory subjects.

VII. Which is your favourite piece of work of your own & why?

My favourite piece of work will always be the next one I share. The second I share my work, I start finding faults in them.

VIII. One track you’re currently listening to?

No Tmrw & OMKR by Paula & The Associates

IX. A project you wish you were a part of and why?

Way too many! The most recent one was a reportage on the Uighur Muslims in China by Vice News.

X. Your favourite midnight munchies?

It’s always something unhealthy !

XI. Your greatest vice?

So many vices, I’ll need more space.

To check out more of his art, follow him here.

Subscribe to his YouTube channel here.