Message on the wall

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The 21-year-old fine arts graduate from Raffles Design International, began the initiative as a college assignment in January. A multimedia project, she chose women’s issues as its theme. “Since Bollywood’s portrayal of gender is quite skewed, I thought it made for a good idea,” she says. To draw up the list of issues she would address, the artist conducted a survey among women on the problems they face. “Aside from eve-teasing, they spoke about suppressed opinions and double standards on issues such as virginity and prostitution,” she adds.

Goradia then chose films whose visuals would best suit the theme, such as Chameli for prostitution and Mardaani for human trafficking. Using Sholay, she created, for instance, a poster on the LGBTI issue. In it, Amitabh Bachchan says, “Maa da ladla bigad gaya”, to which Dharmendra replies, “Lekin tenu ki farak penda hai?” She created digital illustrations, took the prints and pasted them on a cardboard.

While street art and graffiti is a popular medium of dissent in the West, Goradia faced problems while seeking permissions to post her art on the walls. From civic bodies to the police, everyone told her that using public walls for art is illegal. “I finally took a street artist friend along for moral support and put them up anyway,” she says.

Given the nature of her art, many posters have been vandalised and torn. But Goradia says her online campaign, which went viral, will continue. “I will next focus on Indian tele-series and their regressive content,” she says, adding that the the campaign has a message for both genders. “For women, it’s simply to break the silence and take a stand. Men need to respect women as an equal,” she adds.

shikha.kumar@expressindia.com