Indian Americans encounter discrimination and polarization

Revelations of the 'Social realities of Indian Americans' report

Indian Americans form the second-largest settlement group in the United States of America. The Indian American Attitudes Survey and YouGov, a research and analytics company, surveyed 1,200 Indian Americans. The result was published jointly by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University (SAIS). 

Swearing in as the President of the United States, Joe Biden stated “Indian –of-descent Americans are taking over the country.” President Joe Biden mentioned the brining of ‘solitary culture’ in the United States of America. Many key roles in Biden’s administration were given to the Indian Americans including Kamala Harris and Vinay Reddy.

The Indian American attitudes survey highlighted that thirty per cent of Indian Americans identify discrimination as a major issue in America. The skin color and gender were identified as the major factors contributing to discrimination. Interestingly, ‘country of origin’ also rooted as a factor for discrimination.

Religion and caste system impose a divide, not only in India but also in the United States. Religion, caste and specifically race pose a serious threat to humanitarianism. According to the survey, a higher number of Indian Americans believe that religion plays a key role in their lives. Interaction or communication of Indian Americans is homogenous. They tend to stick with their social communities.

The marginalized communities in the US, based on their caste, are vulnerable to inequality or bias. In contrast to the appointment of officers for administration, marginalized communities in the US are subject to discrimination at the workplace. The report highlighted a lawsuit against Cisco systems filed in the year 2020. An employee belonging to a marginalized caste community was victimized by his colleagues, who were Indian Americans.

Speaking of education, the majority of the Indian Americans either completed their education or had their undergraduate degree before immigrating to the US.

The individuals are confined to their culture and norms, just like tracing the times of history. Endogamy is largely found in the first and second generations of the Indian American population in the US. However, the survey also revealed an increase in inter-community marriages in the second generation population.

Although the population is said to have diverse cultures or religion, the majority of the respondents belonged to the Hindu community. Muslims, Christians and others were a religious minority. When questioned on ‘self-identity, the term ‘Indian American’ and ‘Indian’ has gained a large number of responses. Self-identification also based on their religion. The report showed that Hindus would prefer to be identified as ‘Indians’ while Christians are likely to identify as ‘Americans.’

The report also revealed that civil and political engagement was higher among the US-born. Networking of individuals or socialization continues to be homogenous in the US, politically, economically and socially.

Click Art Museum: In Communication with Kala Shreethar

 

Have you ever considered posing for a photo with a Chimpanzee? Can you imagine clicking a picture when a crocodile is about to trap you? Would you be grinning by then? What if a villainous character, Joker, approaches you with funny tricks? Click art museum facility is exciting when you want to spend fun time with friends. It is under the roof of VGP Snow Kingdom, Injambakkam.

A renowned artist, A P Shreethar, conceptualized the museum with interactive 3D and optical illusions. The Click art in Chennai is the first of its kind in the country.

Know why Click Art stands unique? A billboard about Shreethar at the museum quoted, “This museum is not like other exhibitions where you cannot touch the exhibits. Here, you can have your pictures clicked, touch the exhibits and bring out the actor or director in you.”

Madhu Balaji is in conversation with Madame Kala Shreethar, COO of Click Art Museum.

We couldn’t use the same name. The concept is the same, Trick Art and Click Art. Since we focused on ‘clicking pictures’, we came up with a new name.

Where was the first Click Art museum opened?

We started working on our project four years before we established the museum in Chennai. We started on April 14, 2016.

Chennai and Bengaluru are people of mixed culture, and we also belong to Chennai. So we implemented our project first in Chennai.

How did the idea originate?

We are not the first to open worldwide. But, we are the pioneers in India. We started it first in India. But before us, there was a Korean company focusing on Trick Art. The concept we work is also Trick Art. The company ventured the same thing, and they started five years before our project took shape. They are operating in various places, exhibiting the same paintings.

It is hard for the painters. They will have to relocate and work for eight to nine months. It takes a year to complete a painting. From then, a focus on commercialising is also vital. This practice will not work for a country like ours, India. They charge around 11 crores. Investing huge money in crores, taking one year time and also they charged thirty percent of royalty on the collections. The company registered a patent for the ‘Trick Art Museum’ in India also.

What distinguishes Click Art Museum from the Korean Company ‘TRICK ART’? What’s our ‘trick’?

We are digital-driven and it is unique. The other company had their painters visit the venue and paint directly on the wall. It is time-consuming. All these eight years, they only had the same paintings. If they have to change the collections, they have to close the museum for at least one year. That’s the issue.

There is another issue. In foreign countries, if we tell the people not to touch the wall or the painting, they never do. But here in India, even if we tell them not to touch the painting, they will.

We thought of an alternative to all these issues. This is how the idea for digitalization emerged. To go a long way, we had a tie-up with 3M people. That technology worked, and we went with them. We managed to come up with paintings in a week. If someone is looking to open a museum as a franchise also, having a place of 1000 or 800 sqft., they can set up a museum within a week.

When a kid visits our museum and scribbles on our paintings, we have the technology to undo the same overnight. Our business would not be spoiled because of that.

Tell us more on the collaboration with 3M People

3M People does the lamination for our paintings. It is a type of paper that we use. When they scribble on a painting, we can wash it with water. Whatever we did was unique, be it the technology, the paper we used and the artwork itself.

We never feel art like foreign and we never auction as they do. Almost all of us are more connected to various forms of art.

We have just given a new form to the already existing one.

 

How has Click Art grown over time?

Right now, Click Art is operating in around 23 venues, including both permanent and temporary museums. We are looking forward to some international collaborations too. Presently, we have our establishment only in Singapore. We are trying to reach other countries also. So after two or three months, when things start settling, we will go ahead. We are not in a position to travel anywhere due to these covid lockdowns.

The situation won’t work for ‘CLICK’ ART because here people come to take photographs. ‘With mask,’ it is not possible.

 

How are the responses to Click Art museums?

Considering every gallery and permanent museums of Click Art, Chennai has had an enormous reach. Chennai received the BEST. Among our temporary museum set-up, what we found surprising was the one held at Kannur during 2019. It was a week-long exhibition before the Onam festival. Around twenty-five lakhs of people visited on the day of Onam. However, on other days too, it had continued to be between fifteen to twenty lakhs. It was a temporary museum, and we did not expect this much response. It was a super-duper hit.

As far as permanent museums are concerned, Chennai is the place that is well-received. People in Chennai easily connect to art and culture. Probably that would be the reason for success.

 

Are we operational in other cities in India?

Right now, we are closed due to the pandemic and lockdowns. Otherwise, we are operating in Mumbai (Ghatkopar), Bengaluru, and Delhi (Rohini).

Are the art collections the same as in Chennai?

Click Art has around 400 paintings till today. Our idea is to change the paintings every year. We will not be able to attract a regular crowd with the same paintings. We also work on customized paintings. Certain universal concepts are always the same. But culture-oriented ones, we customize them based on the venue.

What are the other initiatives/ activities by Click Art?

Other than Click Art, we have another concept called Live Art Museum. Have you heard of Madame Tussauds pioneering wax statues? We work on Silicon statues. A demerit of wax statues is that they do not suit our temperature. The mould also changes after one or two years and wax is also not consistent with our temperature here. These are the reasons why Madame Tussauds could not reach here. The cost involved in making a statue is 4 crore. It does not work for a country like us too! We wanted to bring that margin lower. We managed to bring it around 15-18 lakh with silicon mould and fibre finish.

Shreethar is both creator and painter himself. When it comes to statutes and structure, it is a team work by 14 members. We will complete a statue in three to four months. We have a museum for the same here in Chennai containing statues of known personalities.

Shreethar has also worked on two silicon statues of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam which are kept at his memorial in Rameshwaram. One in standing posture, and the other like he is at the President desk. 96 paintings by Sreethar were displayed.

How is Click Art Museum coping up with Covid lockdowns? 

Except for the footfalls, it is not impacting us. We have to hold hands and overcome them together. Even if we don’t earn this year but survive, we win. 

What are the future projects lined up for Click Art?

We are working on a Goa tourism project. We have not travelled so far. It will be for museums and also exhibiting a collection of vintage cameras. We already have one vintage camera museum in Singapore. We are working on many museum projects. We hope to stand unique.