Jeffrey Rathgeber’s NFT shows an uber cool Bapu
Madhav Kohli reimagines Gandhi cruising on a bike through AI
While the emphasis still remains on Mahatma Gandhi’s ethos and ideals of peace and non-violence, the Gandhian symbols have been given a contemporary twist – edgy, cool, and far from conventional. The historical figure continues to live on in the imagination of today’s youth.
Over the past decade and more, Debanjan Roy has developed what might be called an aesthetic of edgy playfulness to draw attention to the misappropriations and over-appropriations of the Mahatma’s image in the production of Brand Gandhi
– Sumathy Ramaswami, Professor of History, Duke University, who researched Gandhi’s role in visual culture
Reimagining Gandhi with AI
Recently, many AI-generated images of Mahatma Gandhi have been circulating on social media. “While retrieving my old hard drive, I stumbled upon a treasure trove of selfies sent to me by friends from the past,” wrote AI artist Jyo John Mulloor as he shared historical figures, including Gandhi, taking selfies. Delhi-based artist Madhav Kohli posted AI-generated pictures captioned, “The many moods of Mahatma Gandhi.” Meanwhile, digital artist Sahid SK imagined how Bapu would look if he hit the gym.
Gandhi-inspired NFT Art
Gandhi Goes Pop: When NFT collectibles took the online marketplace by storm, art enthusiasts spent real money to collect digital NFT art from around the world. “The birthday boy wants peace, not cake,” wrote visual artist Amrit Pal Singh in an Instagram post from 2022, as he shared his toy-face artwork of Gandhi, originally created in 2020.
Gandhi’s global influence is still enormous, and his reputation as a force for good remains firmly intact
– Jeffrey Gettleman (Seventy-One Years Later, Gandhi’s Influence in India Diminishes in The Independent)
He graces T-shirts, mugs, and refrigerator magnets. He was on The Simpsons. His image has been both glorified and trivialized, meme-ified, simplified, and stretched so far that the man – his flaws, complexities, and actual message – has been reduced to a cliche, a fictional superhero
– Alisha Haridasani Gupta (The Many Faces of Gandhi in The New York Times)
