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The Fearless Collective & The Gulabi Gang Art Project

Thursday, August 07, 2014

They say there are two India's. One India that is progressive, which had a woman Prime Minister before most other countries did, where the urban Indian woman is walking shoulder to shoulder with the men & blazing trails. And there is another India which does not respect its women, where female infanticide, dowry deaths, rapes, domestic violence are a reality with statistics giving you shocking numbers. Those numbers are a reality which tells us that serious work needs to be done. At every level, by everyone. Sampat Pal is one such woman who very practically and simply is doing what needs to be done. She started Gulabi Gang and her army of women in pink sarees live right amongst the people who are the worst perpetrators of serious and daily crime against women, and they stop them, in their pink sarees and with their long sticks, they do what needs to be done. Women will NOT suffer silently. They will pay pack in kind if need be.
Parallelly after the Delhi Nirbhaya rape case, the Fearless Collective started by Shilo Shiv Suleman started gaining momentum, Posters around the theme "Fearless" came pouring in from everywhere, across the country. So how do these two come together?
Gulaabi Gang is a film by Nishta Jain on Sampat Pal which shows exactly how she goes about tackling the reality of insensitivity and brutality towards women, the reality of the film is powerful and needs to be seen by more and more people. Ruchi Bhimani of the Recyclewala Labs speaks of how the Fearless collective takes forward the message of the film Gulaabi Gang. And about the Gulaabi Gang Art Project.
"We loved the way Shilo communicated her excitement about the project. We got talking about it and we decided to launch the Gulabi Gang Art Project. I wanted it to have more involvement socially for it to reach out to a larger audience.” 
"What’s a DVD anymore? You can just download things. So, I wanted the DVD to be a collectible. And, so, I just saw the perfect ally in Fearless Collective,’ says Ruchi. ‘The Gulabi Gang Art Project is an open call for art inspired by the documentary. It is a platform for people to come forth and express their views, and lend their voice in support of women’s empowerment by using art as a tool for communication. This could anything ranging from an illustration, painting, photograph, or even a short Hindi poem. We’re looking to take this dialogue forward by displaying this art on multiple platforms – online on blogs, Facebook, Instagram etc., where we hope for this exchange and dialogue to continue. Out in the real world, we are working out the possibility of doing wall art on walls and pillars in various cities to further this dialogue in a more inclusive manner. The Gulabi Gang DVD cover is one such platform on which this art will be displayed. The packaging has been designed to accommodate multiple entries. A collage of all the art received, if you will.’  
As part of this project Shilo Shiv Suleman wrote to a bunch of us inviting us to design a DVD cover. Sharing a few of what I have seen of it. This looks really exciting. I am extremely proud and thrilled to be involved in any kind of way in this project." -from her story
  
I can't wait to see the final result of this. 
 
 You can read about it here.
You can read the full story of this beautiful piece by Kalyani here
And this below was my 1st design for them and... 
 I also gave them one more option which is a LOT more Gulaabi & so they could accommodate their text easily.
 And this is a call to all of you who may still want to contribute and participate in the Gulaabi Gang Art project. There are still 3 days left - the last date of submission is the 10th of August.
You can like The Fearless Collective page & contact the Recyclewala page to send in your entries, it could be a  piece of art, a line of poetry. Or you could even spread the word. This message needs your voice.

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