The ‘Canvas of Change’ virtual exhibition held on 11th July 2024 (4-6 pm), aimed to explore Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) through creative expressions. Organized by a 10-person team called the Youth Advisory Group (YAG) of Dasra and Pravah under the pan-Indian project of Youth Ke Bol, it was the self-selected graduation assignment of the 6-month YAG cohort. The whole project was anchored, over a period of nearly 2 months, by Prachi Tiwari and Nandani, promotional graphics and messaging made by Priyanka Panda, artist and audience mobilization by Usha Kumari and Reena Banjara, form preparation and artist management by Reshma Anil Kumar, powerpoint presentation made by Swastika Mahalaxmikar and scripted by Almas Zareen. Usha played a huge part in the Hindi translations throughout various stages of the project, and Almas & Priyanka came together for the facilitation of the exhibition, with Vishu and Swastika coming together for the documentation. The project was continuously scrutinized and supported by Puja Mahato, Aishee Banerjee and Aakriti P. of Pravah, and Milonee Parekh of Dasra. This two-hour exhibition featured 5 artists from various backgrounds. Like the real event itself, an introduction call with the artists and two dry-runs over zoom was done in the weeks leading up to the event.
The first artist was Rhea Laskar (Rei), a demi-bisexual nonbinary person from Assam, disabled with cerebral palsy, AuDHD and auditory processing disorder. They exhibited two pieces – one, a writeup called ‘Gender Exploration: Letting Go of Social Expectations’, and two, a digital drawing titled ‘No One is Free Until Everyone is Free’. The 1-page writeup was quite personal and closely reflected how Rei's process of understanding their gender identity, sparked by a casual question from one of their closest friends. It portrays how we all try hard to ignore our discomfort to fit in, especially for very visibly disabled people like Rei who is already ostracized. The piece ends with Rei realizing that their comfort and happiness matter more than what others want or think. Contrastingly, the drawing is quite simple looking with an ‘eye’ as the centre of attention. The eyeball itself has its upper horizontal half coloured by a rainbow and the other half looking like a watermelon, which represents the Palestinian flag. The eyebrow has 5 piercings in the colours of the transgender flag. The eye is overflowing with red tears, expressing both menstrual blood and pain in general. Though all this represents various marginalized communities suffering, it also depicts these communities bravely standing up against their oppressors and fighting for their right to live safely with dignity.
The exhibition was designed in such a manner that after the initial icebreaker, each artist was introduced by the facilitator who then passes on the mic to the artist to present their art. In Rei’s case, due to their disability-related speech issues, Reshma came forward to present their art. Once presented, the facilitators took over to seek insights from the audience through chat and occasional unmuting. This exercise is then concluded by the facilitators asking the author themselves about what the art really means and their experiences creating it. Adhering to this pattern, the next artist called upon was Ranu Singh.
Ranu is a Menstrual Educator working on Menstrual Hygiene Awareness and Reproductive Health Rights in the schools and communities of Bihar for the past 3-5 years. He uses art, digital content, and storytelling to conduct workshops, events, and public awareness campaigns. His art included two original photographs – one with red handprints all over a white chart paper, surrounded by people standing around, on a red-carpeted floor. The second one is a photo of well-arranged diverse menstrual products, in the shadow of a window. It featured a sky-blue cloth pad at the centre, two bio-degradable pads in white and pink packaging to the top right corner, two tampons at the down right corner, one blue and one pink menstrual cup at the top left corner and an almost symmetrical solo stick of rose with leaves at the down left corner, with some of the petals plucked and spread on the cloth pad. While talking about Menstrual Hygiene Day 2024, Ranu also spotlighted the startling statistics of ecological damage single-use plastic sanitary pads cause.
Following was a 17-year-old student dancer and public speaker from Uttar Kannada Kodibag Karwar. Pallavi Pandurang Kamble took up the complex challenge of explaining the life, relationships and emotions of a girl as she becomes a woman through a 1 minute 30 seconds' dance. Adorned by the audience’s remarks, she also expressed her pride in being a girl and becoming a woman and how much she enjoys it, despite all the struggles that come with it. This was in stark contrast with other artists who highlighted the darker sides that comes with being different or shrouded in shame.
From here, the baton was passed to Krish Raj, a young filmmaker from Patna, Bihar, who is one of the 75 Creative Minds from the International Film Festival of India, a member of Bihar Youth for Child Rights, and an alumnus of the U.S. Department of State's Access Microscholarship Program. He presented his 6-minute film ‘N3’, recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO). This comprehensive film brought together the public, students and medical practitioners, their opinions and knowledge on safe sex practices, family planning, contraception and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs). The misinformation and stigma among the public and youth it presented further cemented opinions regarding the need for compulsory Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in educational institutions amongst the audience.
The final artist to enrich the exhibition was a prolific artist with diverse talents in paintings, murals, sculpture and installation. Indrani Acharya, based in Kolkata and Georgia, is nationally and internationally renowned through her participation in multimedia residencies, environmental conferences, and cultural exchanges. She presented two pieces, both themed ‘The Hope’, which uses mixed media on handmade paper, portraying the intricacies and challenges people may face in the SRH front of life. The first piece looks like a horizontal vulva with its labia stitched together. These stitches symbolized the physical and emotional scars one may live through while navigating the sensitivities of SRH in a world like ours. It also reminds one of practices like Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) which is still prevalent despite the era we’re living in. The second painting features several bark-like squares resembling a spinal cord. It suggests the interconnectedness of different aspects of SRH. This is then surrounded by black and white bandage-like crepe alternatively, signifying the constraints and limitations we face in terms of our SRH.
By then, it was nearing the end of the exhibition, and we all thought it indeed is the end. But surprisingly, Priyanka came forward to recite a poem of hers that brought all the art pieces and concepts presented throughout the exhibition together. Though it visibly talked about sexuality exploration and lack of acceptance, its crux was of self-love which was the perfect cherry to top the Exhibition ‘cake’.
The exhibition was an amalgamation of all that is often considered ‘shouldn’t be’, some more obvious and some others less obviously. But that was what kept the exhibition balanced overall. It, comfortably and realistically, coalesced anomalies and specialities that left much inspiration and food for thought!
