Voices of Manipur's creative community

(above) 'Pleasure over Matters' (2023), oil paint paper and yarn on canvas, by Thamshangpha Maku; and (below) Thoudam Victor's 'Aboriginal Cry'.

- Avantika Bhuyan

Why do trees weep leaves without warning? Why do the old choose to die in their mountain hamlets? Why did his people turn to terror?

In Robin Ngangom's verse, Poet, part of his collection of poetry, My Invented Land (Speaking Tiger, 2023), the questions are both real and surreal. The bilingual poet, who writes in English and Manipuri, retired from North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, in January this year. He had planned to return to his hometown of Imphal but with the roads blockaded for months, he has not been able to make that journey just yet. Meanwhile, his poetry often acts as a witness to ethnic conflict and the tension between state and non-state actors, which has tormented the people of Manipur for decades.

While Poet was written much before the present conflict between the Meitei and the Kuki-Zo communities that has been raging in the state for 18 months, it does reflect the sombre nature of the moment. The tensions have not ebbed with time—earlier this month, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) was reimposed in Manipur's six police station areas, including Sekmai, Lamsang, Lamlai and Jiribam.

For visual artists, theatre practitioners, poets and writers, these everyday realities of Manipur are finding expression in their work. Some are creating portraits of memories, a few are offering art as a means of healing. And some, like Ngangom, stand as chroniclers.

ARTIST AS WITNESS

Having lived in the hills of Shillong for most of his professional life while also witnessing growing ethnic aggressiveness, marginalisation, and displacement in Manipur, Ngangom's poetry features a vivid lyricism combined with a sense of social immediacy.