Men at work for women’s rights
Artist Manil Gupta with brother Rohit
At the forefront of demand for safety and justice for women are several men. Amidst the wave of protests all across the country there have been some city-based male artists, painters, sculptors and writers who have been holding the baton for women’s empowerment for a while now.
Painter Sidarth insists that there is no reason to shy away from working for women’s empowerment for men. And if men take a pledge for women’s safety, a lot can change in the society.
“I believe, as a society we can’t survive without women. In fact, being a male, I wish to give women a better and safer world. I hope more and more men understand their role in bringing a change in the society and show some sensitivity towards women,” says Sidarth.
Abhay Chawla, academician, says that he couldn’t turn a blind eye to the heinous crimes like acid attacks on women. For Abhay, change is a gradual process. He has been working for acid-attack victims for a while now and he was pleased to see many youngsters joining him in his crusade for a safer world for women.
“It’s inspiring for youngsters. And many youngsters are coming forward to join in. Though we have a long way to go when it comes to making new laws that favour women,” he says.
From renowned sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik creating a sculpture in Kochi to 500 guitarists playing to keep the spirit alive in Darjeeling, artists across the nation are paying tribute to the Delhi gang-rape victim. But these kinds of tributes are nothing new for painter Sudip Roy, who in 1992, made his first women’s issue related series called ‘Vasundhara’. “At that time women-related issues were not taken up by male artists very often,” says Roy.
“Back in 90s, my subject used to alarm some people. People were just beginning to talk about women’s empowerment and not many artists wanted to venture into a subject like this. Even if people used to like my work, most of them would just admire the paintings and forget about it later,” he adds.
However things are changing for the better now, believes Sudip. “The new media is a very powerful tool. It has helped in creating a new momentum. Many young artists are getting involved in women’s empowerment movement,” says Roy.
Manil Gupta is one such young artist. Subjects like gender bias and male domination in our society has dominated a large section of his work.
“I dedicated a series of work to the Assam rape victim and male sexual oppression in general. My work has dark humour, a satire, on the male chauvinist thinking,” says Manil. He continues, “My work is usually reflective of the kind of society we are living in.”
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