#MeToo: Artist Subodh Gupta accused of serial offences

Artist is one of the curators of the Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa

A former co-worker of renowned artist Subodh Gupta has accused him of being a ‘a serial sexual harasser’.

In a series of posts on the Instagram account ‘Scene and Herd’ on Thursday, the anonymous ex-colleague also collated accusations made by several “young women” about Mr. Gupta.

These include allegations that the 54-year-old artist made unwelcome advances towards several of his assistants and co-workers on multiple occasions: “grabbed the hand, touched the stomach, breasts, shoulders, pulled at bra straps, rubbed the thighs”.

Mr. Gupta is the curator of the Serendipity Arts Festival, which is set to begin on December 15 in Panjim, Goa.

The Hindu was yet to receive a response to its request for comment from the organisers of the festival, at the time of going to press.

Text messages sent to Mr. Gupta, and gallerists Aparajita Jain and Peter Nagy, who represent the artist through Nature Morte, had also received no response.

While the Instagram posts are all anonymous, art critic and writer Rosalyn D’mello lent support to the accounts shared by the women. In Instagram and Facebook posts, she said, “I want to state that the post pertaining to Subodh is not “made up” or isn’t “revenge” or isn’t “attention-seeking”. They are true. They happened. Unless you choose not to believe them. That’s your prerogative.”