The wall is inspired by the story of patron goddess of Gujarat- Bahuchara Mata who has an intense and fascinating story.
Story goes, that one day she was walking in the desert when she was followed by a group of men who started to attack her and grab at her body.
In a quick and desperate moment, she cut off both breasts and handed it to them saying : "Here, you want these? Take them."
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The gods who were watching this, were taken aback and made her a goddess and protector of women, as well as devi of the transgender community in India.
Interestingly enough, her vahaan is a bird, and it feels almost like once one steps 'beyond gender', one is free.
The affirmation here became: 'I am more than my body'
This wall was collaborative in the truest sense, there were three layers of interaction:
- Painting with traditional artisans from Natrani who were trained in vernacular gujarati mural styles
- Painting with local contemporary artists from the fearless collective like Aditi Gupta and Tuhin Paul of menstrupedia
and finally painting with the lovely kids of Usmanpura village, who had never picked up a paintbrush in their lives but had done so much mehendi that they had the finest line quality.
It was painted on the household of well known activist, theatre person and artist Mallika Sarabhai, who also comes from a family of feminists and her own work includes delving into mythological ideas and making them contemporary.
We also did a few street exhibitions of the posters and one in the beautiful 'Conflictorium' gallery space. One year later, the posters still find home in spaces around the world.
