SPOKEN STATE - INDIA
Quit India Speech
Mahatma Gandhi · 1942
The Work
MEDIUM
Acrylic on Dibond aluminium
DIMENSIONS
915 × 610 mm (2:3 ratio)
COLOURS
Cadmium Orange (Hue), Titanium White, Sap Green, Ultramarine Blue
SPEECH
Quit India Speech, 1942
SPEAKER
Mahatma Gandhi
LOCATION
Gowalia Tank Maidan, Bombay (now Mumbai)
About the flag
The Indian Tricolour — saffron, white, green with the Ashoka Chakra (navy blue wheel with 24 spokes) at centre
Historical Context
The moment: Launch of the Quit India Movement, August 8, 1942
By 1942 India had been under British rule for nearly two centuries. World War II had deepened the crisis: Britain was demanding Indian military support while offering nothing in return — no commitment to independence, no meaningful consultation. The Congress Party had been patient long enough.
On August 8, 1942, Gandhi addressed a crowd of thousands at Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay. He launched the Quit India Movement — a call for immediate British withdrawal — and gave the nation a mantra: 'Do or Die.' The British response was immediate and brutal: Gandhi and the entire Congress leadership were arrested within hours.
The Quit India Movement was Gandhi's most radical act. It led to mass civil disobedience across India, strikes, protests, and violent British repression. Over 100,000 people were arrested. But the movement accelerated the inevitability of Indian independence, which came on August 15, 1947.
The Ashoka Chakra at the centre of the Indian flag — placed there on independence — derives from the Lion Capital of Ashoka, an ancient Indian emperor. Its 24 spokes represent the 24 hours of the day: the wheel of law, always turning.
The Speech
"Here is a mantra, a short one, that I give you. You may imprint it on your hearts and let every breath of yours give expression to it. The mantra is: 'Do or Die.' We shall either free India or die in the attempt."
Context
Mahatma Gandhi, Gowalia Tank Maidan, Bombay, August 8, 1942. The speech launched the Quit India Movement. Gandhi was arrested before dawn the following morning and imprisoned for the duration of the war.
Mahatma Gandhi's Quit India Speech | Freedom Struggle Speeches
Gandhiji Speech on Quit India Movement - 8 August 1942
Process
Each Spoken State work begins with the speech. The text is transcribed, counted, and mapped to the geometry of the flag — word by word, colour field by colour field — before a single brushstroke is made.
1. The Aluminium Dibond is sized to the width of McGinty’s 30 year old T Square. The surface is lightly sanded, primed and 4 coats of gesso with a final two coats of Titanium White to create the the surface on which to work. The Surface becomes a drawing board.
2. The Indian flag presents a unique compositional challenge: the Ashoka Chakra at the centre of the white stripe disrupts the simple tricolour geometry and requires text to flow around and through it.
3. The 24 spokes of the Chakra were treated as a compositional anchor — the most concentrated area of text, where the speech's most urgent words are gathered.
4. Saffron, white, and green required separate text-density calibration. The Chakra in navy blue required the finest brushwork in the series.
Limited Edition Prints
The Original Flag Painting is scanned using a museum quality, high resolution Cruse scanner.
Limited edition museum quality archival prints are available, signed and numbered by the artist.
[ BUTTON: 'ENQUIRE ABOUT PRINTS' → /contact ]
[ BUTTON: 'VIEW ALL EDITIONS' → /editions ]
← Previous flag | View all works | Next flag →