HINDU FOCUS

Focusing on defamation against Hindus around the globe

ARTISTS' OFFICIAL RESPONSE

RE: Expressed concerns over Beckham family portrait

In order to respond to your concerns properly we feel we need to first tell you something about our background:

As we are sure you are well aware Sikhism teaches that all religions are equal and, therefore, should be afforded equal respect . Coming from a Sikh family WE FIRMLY BELIEVE IN THIS PRINCIPLE (the images/statues of religious icons from all world faiths take pride of place in our home).

We were brought up on the wonderful tales of Hindhu mythology and as teenagers travelled extensively around India to learn about our Indian roots in all its diversity - not just from a Sikh perspective. Also, we studied Hinduism together at both Undergraduate and Postgraduate level - both the art and the scriptures. Our Gurus were born Hindus and indeed they considered Hinduism a religion worth defending, fighting and dying for. Furthermore, the writings of Hindu Saints are included in our Sikh Scriptures. Therefore, the last thing we would ever do would be to insult the Hindu faith which continues to be such an integral part of our own cultural and religious identity. Our father even gave us Hindu middle names to acknowledge this fact. We might add that Hindus are included amongst our most closest and dearest friends.

We are sorry that you feel offended by our painting of the Beckhams but, unfortunately you have fallen for the sensationalist headlines, certain misquotes and misrepresentation of the painting by some of the media .

To clarify:

Contrary to what has been printed the portrait does NOT show Beckham, Victoria and Brooklyn AS Shiva, Parvati and Ganesh. If we had wanted to show this we would have made it quite obvious - ie, we would have depicted Beckham, for instance, holding a trident, a dumroo, and wearing a tiger skin etc. In fact the painting has been inspired by a traditional image of Shiva and Parvati - merely in terms of the general composition and artistic symbolic language used and is basically a comment on how religious Icons have been replaced by secular ones in a materialistic world that, unfortunately, would rather have sports and pop celebrities as role models instead of the spiritual ones offered by world religions (whether they be Christ, Muhammad, Buddha, Hindu Gods, Sikh Gurus, Saints etc, etc). This is a sad fact of the times we live in and one which we feel needs to be questioned.

In answer to a particular question: No, we would not like it if Beckham were depicted as one of the Sikh Gurus or a Jewish prophet but we have not depicted the Beckhams as Hindu Gods, only as themselves - as secular icons in a secular world.

The Beckham portrait is in fact only one in a series of works that look at the relationship between sport, media and celebrity and the impact this has had on modern society. Like all our work these paintings draw upon the rich artistic and symbolic language of our Indian traditions and seek to project a positive image of Asian identity - introducing wider audiences to the beauty and continuing value of our heritage in contemporary Western society but also challenging the established view that Contemporary Art is only relevant if it comes form a Western tradition.

We would like to reassure you that when the sports themed works are exhibited there will be detailed commentaries on each painting so there can be no misunderstanding about their content and meanings.

We would also like to say that we have received support from Hindu representatives from around the UK and, to be frank, if the newspapers had not mentioned the names of Shiva, Parvati and Ganesh (who incidentally is not in the original painting that inspired us) , we doubt that anyone - Hindu or otherwise- would have even seen a connection as the painting does not contain any of the visual symbols that traditionally identitfy these figures specifically.

We appreciate your feedback but were surprised at your response as one of the beauties of the Hindu Faith is its open mindedness where even a stone, or tree can be worshipped as God and which accepts the idea of humans playing the role of Gods in TV and film.

Yours sincerely

The Singh Twins

Amrit and Rabindra