new delhi if mahatma gandhi had an aadhaar card what would it look like you could see it at this years safdar hashmi memorial where artist nilanjan das created an aadhaar card with gandhis photo and details printed on the two sides the memorial is organised every year on january 1 in memory of activist poet and actor safdar hashmi who was fatally attacked while performing a street play on this day in 1989 das artwork was part of experiment with truth exhibition curated by vibha galhotra held at the daylong event whose theme this year was 150 years of mahatma gandhianother highlight of the exhibition was the latest work by the artist duo of thukral and tagra titled bread circuses and tbd it talks about the farming and agrarian economy through this work the artists want to highlight the critical concerns in indias farming industry today we are exploring the struggle between agriculture and policies said sumir tagra talking about sahmat and hashmis legacy tagra added that it is of great relevance in todays climate where the right to dissent and the freedom of expression are under threat artists need to voice the idea of freedom and collectives like sahmat completely understand it and bring it all under one umbrella its very important to be a part of this conversation tagra saidphotographer vijay jodhas black and white photographs of wives and daughters of farmers who have committed suicide in india since 2015 made up for another exhibition called the first witnessesorganised by sahmat safdar hashmi memorial trust an art collective the event also saw performances by various artists academic sumangala damodaran sang songs of freedom and revolution in different languages while poet saif mahmood recited couplets both his own and by other poets on the ideas of revolution and freedom other highlights included a kathak performance by shivani verma a puppetry show by dadi padumjee and a sufi performance by madan gopal singh also available at the event were works from sahmats earlier the postcards for gandhi project it was a collaboration with 100 artists to create postcardsized works that reflected gandhis political leadership philosophy and relevance to contemporary india one hundred unpublished postcards from this project were issued this year and were available for purchase at the event the postcard pack included works by artists like ram kumar nalini malini orijit sen atul dodiya and vivaan sundarammost of the gathering at the event consisted of senior artists and academicians while hashmi and his activism started in college there were comparatively fewer young people at the event thirty years after his death does safdar hashmis street theatre activism still hold the youth in sway yes said sudhanva deshpande of jan natya manch over a phone interview compared to the mid80s when i was in college student participation in street theatre in delhi university has increased exponentially performing in open and public spaces fosters a culture of debate and plays a critical role in democracy said deshpande an actordirector ankit