BackCreative Explosion after Repression
Submitted by Atholhu – Platform for Artists
1. Aims/Objectives/Goals of Project
a) To assess the impact of the 30 years dictatorship (of the previous government of the Maldives) on creativity
b) Specifically, to assess the impact of the dictatorship on artists/creative practitioners of the country
2. Brief Description of Project
The Maldives is an island nation consisting of 26 atolls encompassing a territory featuring 1,192 islets, of which there are 250 inhabited islands. The newly elected President Nasheed has divided the atolls into seven provinces in order to decentralize the governing of the country:
1. Mathi-Uthuru Province; consists of Haa Alif, Haa Dhaalu and Shaviyani Atoll.
2. Uthuru Province; consists of Noonu, Raa, Baa and Lhaviyani Atoll.
3. Medhu-Uthuru Province; consists of Kaafu, Alifu Alifu, Alifu Dhaalu and Vaavu Atoll.
4. Medu Province; consists of Meemu, Faafu and Dhaalu Atoll.
5. Mathi-Dhekunu Province; consists of Thaa and Laamu Atoll.
6. Medhu-Dhekunu Province; consists of Gaafu Alifu and Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll.
7. Dhekunu Province; consists of Gnaviyani and Seenu Atoll.
In the past, the governing power has not moved away from the capital Male’ and proper health care and education were also limited to the capital. It was estimated in 2006, that the population consisted of 350,000, of which 104, 403 live in Male’. As of April 2008 more than 70,000 foreign employees live in Maldives, a large number of which work and live in Male’. Transportation within the islands is through boats and through seaplanes or domestic flights (an expensive option). In the repressive regime of thirty years, the fragility of the dispersed population was amplified since communication between different island communities was limited due to inaccessibility and free media.
For the past thirty years, art in the Maldives like most other forms of freedom of expression had been limited to craft and aesthetics appealing to tourism rather than exploring art for satisfying one's own hunger for creativity. To explore the creative explosion arising from a cessation of repression and creating art awareness in the Maldives and discovering how it compares to the way society has survived and evolved. How one's surrounding circumstances and situations penetrate and evoke what they had experienced in physical manifestation.
The creative process and output in society in connection with external situations primarily in relation to repression by the government measures and politics will be analyzed. This will include the common patterns and differences in regard to the hierarchy of needs and wants in local communities in different Atolls of Maldives. Art as a subject has been undermined or focused on very little in a lot of these communities, and most emerging artists are self-taught and cater to the commercial tourist market.
These communities will benefit from having a creative venue where they can grow as artists and discover their true identity in art. They were unable to explore or communicate this to the public in the past resulting in increasing outcasts leading to serious social problems within the community.
3. Methodology/Implementation of Project
a) Case studies will be conducted on the different ways artists have decided to evolve in order to survive and persevere in a difficult environment; this includes differences in social class and the opportunity to travel and meet with other artists or exposure to the art world.
b) Interviews/questionnaires
c) A total of not less than 40 creative arts practitioners will be interviewed
d) Documentation of this project will be published as a catalogue or publication highlighting the underground subculture of art.
4. Time frame of project
Five months for all the activities including interviews, presentations, online documentation, exhibition and catalogue publication
a) 2 months for interviews
b) 1 month for online documentation
c) 1 and half months for presentations, catalogue publication & documentation
d) 14 days for exhibition
5. Projected output of project
a) Online documentation
b) Presentations to local art community (Male and atolls)
c) Exhibition of artists selected from those interviewed
d) Publication of catalogue
6. Target audience
a) Local artist community (Male and atolls)
b) Maldivian public in general, Art educators (teachers/curriculum developers)
c) Global artist communities and arts institutions
7. Disseminating information about the project to the target audience
Through online project documentation, presentations, exhibition and catalogue
8. Impact of project on the art community/cultures engaged. How it will develop the art form?
a) The project will delineate the various factors that inhibited artists throughout the repression
b) It will further encourage artists to appreciate the changed political environment with regard to art production and creativity in general
c) Show the collective nature of (the problem) of the repression of artists in the country and through this create a sense of community among the artists in the community
d) Provide a closure to the (dictatorial) repressive measures
e) The project will serve as encouragement for artists to renew their art practices
f) It will assist artists to see art in relation to society as opposed to just decoration, souvenir making, production of aesthetically pleasing objects, etc.
g) The project will help artists to see the social function of art
h) The Maldivian society will understand the importance of art in its comprehension of development and the positive impact that it has on the community as a whole.