The S.N. School holds in the School premises a display of works by the final semester students as part of the examination process. For this academic year, 1 May 2015 is declared as the date of the Final Display. On 16th April 2015, the Head, Dept. of Fine Arts, S.N. School of Arts and Communication, Hyderabad issued a circular stating that  "mandatory for all its students to submit their work's images in CD format... to the screening committee for reviewing & sanctioning the approval before exhibiting them for the public viewing." 

(Circular: http://goo.gl/fhO3XM)

The circular issued by the HOD is completely silent on what are the criteria through which these selections will be made, and what are the ways in which these decisions and their rationale will be informed to the students. Such committees without a clear directive and procedure, as we well know, can be manipulated by the people in power, according to their ideological orientations.

Prior to issuing this circular, on 31st March 2015, the Department of Fine Arts had convened a general body meeting consisting of members of faculty and students to discuss various aspects of students’ activities, including the final semester display. One of the propositions made by the Head of the Department was that, only a select few works of the students would be allowed for display, and anything which may have the potential to create controversies should be removed in advance. To implement this decision, it was proposed that a screening committee will be formed within the department in order to scrutinize the works of the final year students, and any work decided as inappropriate by this committee would not be allowed for display. 

It should be noted here that some of the students clearly expressed their discontent with regard to this proposal and pointed out the potential danger of it and its impact on art practice, art teaching, and experimentation.  Since there was no consensus on this matter other than the vehement assertion of some faculty members about the ‘virtues’ of this censorship, as students, we assumed that the decision regarding this proposal has been deferred so that there will be more discussion and debate on this highly contentious issue among the student and artistic community before finalizing this proposal. However this was not to be the case.

Ironically, one of the reasons provided by the HOD in the General Body Meeting, for implementing such a screening committee was that “What happened in Baroda in 2007 [regarding Chandramohan’s works] should not be repeated here.” As all of us know, in fact the referred incident led to the artist community and concerned citizens continuously fighting against such attacks on institutional autonomy and defended the students’ right to experiment and display their work within institutional premises. Deviating from such history, this prestigious institution is imposing a self-censorship instead of protecting the rights of its students.

Since we believe that experimentation in art practices is central to the ethos of art educational institutions, and are deeply therefore committed to its futures, we demand that such decisions to implement any screening committees be immediately revoked. A proactive gesture on your part will be beneficial not only for the current batch of students, but also for the institution's prospects.