“No Freedom! No Expression”: artists hijack art gallery
21 Mar 2012, 19:28
Zaheena Rasheed
A group of artists hijacked a joint National Art Gallery and Japan Foundation exhibition on Tuesday, to call attention to alleged abuse of fundamental rights and freedoms since the controversial transfer of power on February 7
The exhibition, titled “Breathing Atolls: Japan-Maldives Contemporary Art Exhibition 2012,” celebrates 45 years of friendship between Japan and the Maldives and highlights the impact of climate change in small island nations.
The campaigners, who call themselves the ‘Suntzu Platoon’, silently tailed the Tourism and Foreign ministers holding placards depicting scenes of police brutality.
“We hoped to gain empathy from Japan for Maldivian artists,” a spokesperson from Suntzu said. “Japan is still recovering from a national scale disaster [2011 earthquake]. We are in the midst of one. We live in a police state. They are beating up people. We wanted Japan to extend us that cultural sensitivity.”
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