Non-binary and trans Indian artist, Anshika Khullar, based in Southampton, England, has created a piece for Amnesty International United Kingdom’s campaign Know Your Freedoms. The campaign asks people to list what freedoms they perceive they have so people can recognize their privileges while also identifying where they are placed at a disadvantage. To help people recognize their freedoms, Amnesty International UK created four large categories: the freedom to be, the freedom to explore, the freedom to imagine, and the freedom to rebel. They had then asked Khullar to work on defining Freedom to Be with an artwork.
In their piece for the campaign, Khullar has depicted a non-binary person at home, surrounded by their pets. They associate their freedom to be and exist with the ability to stay home and be alone with their pets. However, the depicted non-binary figure has their shirt off, visibly battling the heat as they hold a fan to their face. This manifests Khullar’s worries, where they contemplate how climate change and rising temperatures impede everyone’s freedom to exist. The piece becomes a reminder of an intersectional approach to climate change. These workable solutions include everyone without exception, including queer people, as it indeed affects everyone on the planet with no exception. This is why the piece is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of Gender Equality and Climate Action.
Khullar’s #FreedomToBe has also been done in a contemporary Art Nouveau style. Art Nouveau flourished in Europe between 1890-1910s. Championed by artists like Alphonse Mucha, Art Nouveau is characterized by solid line art that flows freely on figures in dynamic poses, a trait that can also be found in Khullar’s #FreedomToBe. The piece also boasts flat colours, just as works from the Art Nouveau movement do. This affirms that the world inside the painting is an artistic rendition, a mirror image of reality rather than reality itself, alluding to its self-reflective quality that asks its viewers to dig deep into their conscience for meaning.
In its heyday, this flatness was done to directly oppose traditional values of reason and clarity of structure as artists departed from the golden age of naturalism, where science allowed humanity to prevail over and dissect nature. In today’s context, the Art Nouveau-inspired piece still carries conceptual meaning. It is a mirror for people to reflect on, a call to action that begs its viewers to act now so there will be no more freedom to exist for everyone.
Anshika Khullar's #FreedomToBe, created for Amnesty International UK's Know Your Freedoms campaign, is a powerful artistic statement that intertwines the struggles for queer rights with the urgent issue of climate change. Through depicting a non-binary person at home battling the oppressive heat, Khullar underscores the universal impact of climate change on everyone’s fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to exist as oneself. The piece serves as a poignant reminder that climate action must be intersectional, addressing the needs and rights of all communities, including queer individuals. Styled in a contemporary fashion reminiscent of Art Nouveau, their work invites viewers to reflect on their privileges and responsibilities in a world increasingly shaped by environmental and social challenges. Khullar's work not only advocates for gender equality and climate action but also calls for a collective reexamination of what it means to have the freedom to be in an ever-changing world.
Find out more about their Know Your Freedoms piece and other pieces by Anshika Khullar on their website www.aorist.com or Instagram @aorist.