Diamonds and Rust

Huyler,who is an art historian,anthropologist and photographer,packed into one man,travelled extensively around the country down all these years exploring culture,familiarising himself with its history and knowing its people. “I stayed in Indian homes,both rural and urban and tried finding who the real people were,not the high flying socialites,artists and the political elite,” he says. The result was an account of twenty women – empowered,luminescent,yet grounded. And art was the common thread that ran through all of them.

“I met women still behind the purdah and the urban liberal ones. From the overwhelming,matriarchal type to the teenage Dalit women about to get married…” recollects Huyler. While one would expect resistance from the rural quarters,Huyler found something in the contrary. “They were really willing to talk and come out with their stories,” he emphasises adding it also has something with his ability to garner trust among people.

And the ‘stories’,that Huyler ran into,couldn’t have been all rosy and aesthetically perfect. “Yes,life isn’t a cakewalk and it applies for these women too. Some are still at odds with life,though they have made considerable changes in their lives and others’ with their art,” says Huyler. And art,therefore,was not a ploy to sugarcoat reality but a medium to draw attention to his subjects first and then take readers through their life stories. “Art is such a compelling medium to express anything,” says Huyler.

The West,says the author,has heralded ‘Daughters of India’ (Mapin) as an exercise in re-identifying the people,especially the women,of India. “The press for a long time has been imperialistic in their ideas about India. Also most of the information about the country went to the West through accounts of the patriarchal elite,” he adds.

So,Huyler,we hope,turns out to be a myth buster.

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