RELEARNING DEMOCRACY

Through art, dance and her Conflictorium Museum, Avni Sethi has created a space to bring up difficult subjects of conflict, violence and democracy

- Manvi Pant

Conflict and strife are inevitable aspects of human life. To navigate this difficult subject, interdisciplinary artist and Kathak dancer Avni Sethi founded the Conflictorium Museum in Ahmedabad in 2013, over a decade after the city saw one of the worst communal riots in modern Indian history. “We are not going to manage a conflict-free society and that’s probably not even the point. Conflict is sign of a living culture, that we’re breathing and thinking and making, and therefore there will be conflict,” the young activist said at eShe’s recent Indo-Pak Peace Summit Led by Women, where she was a panelist.

“But as a culture, region and as a people, it’s a good time to think whether we are equipped with conflict resolution. If there is conflict, can we talk through our conflict? Or make art or dance through it? Can we do these things and not choose the route of violence, which is the easiest way and the way we have chosen for years on end?” she added.

For Avni, who grew up in Ahmedabad in a Punjabi-Gujarati household, conflict was personal. One set of her grandparents had migrated to Delhi during Partition and had to constantly pull through insecurity and crises. The other had lived in Gujarat for generations. Avni spent most of her childhood navigating through these differences, in deciding ‘what to say, where’. “When you are a dual culture child, always dealing with this subtle conflict present at home and in your extended family, you become more careful. You don’t want to say anything that gets you into trouble. And so, I resorted to silence while growing up.”