The trauma of victims of brutal gangrape and acid attack respectively in Delhi and Chennai shook artist N Swarnalatha to the core, so much so that she began transferring her pain on to the canvas in an act of personal catharsis.
Titled 'Nirbhaya', a painting exhibition capturing the physical, emotional, and psychological trauma of suffering women, of late, and making a fervent plea to the society "to treat us women as humans" opened up here recently.
"Last year I had come to Delhi to spend my holidays with my family. But right after December 16, I saw people marching to India Gate and holding candle-lit vigils for the gangrape victim. And, it all jolted me inside, more so as an artist," says N Sawarnalatha.
"When I went back to Chennai I started having sleepless nights, thinking about the pain this Delhi girl must have gone through from the incident till her death. And, then these acid incidents took place with 'Vinodhini' and 'Vidya' in Tamil Nadu. So, I chose my canvas to register my protest as also to find catharsis for my own self as the pain became unbearable," Swarnalatha told PTI in an interview.
For this 40-year-old Chennai-based artist, the exhibition is also an emotional plea to restore the dignity that god has blessed women with as mothers, sisters, wives, daughters among other roles.
"We are only the mothers, sisters, daughters, wives and mother-in-laws for men and the society and large. Then how can you treat us in such brutal and disrespectful ways. I only make a plea to them to treat us women as humans," she added.
The exhibition numbering 35 canvases, which saw some visitors getting emotionally overwhelmed captures the silent sufferings as it echoes the deafening screams of violated femininity.
The eponymous painting titled 'Nirbhaya' showcases a girl surrounded by grappling hands as her face sombrely stands against a deluge of newsprints, reflecting the agony before, during and after her death, as news of sufferings continued to hit the headlines.
"Even after 'Nirbhaya', six-year-old, eight-year-old, 12-year-old, rapes and sufferings continued. And, acid victimization and female foeticide too continued to rear its ugly head. It made me feel so dispirited and dejected. And, I began to think what is happening to the society," says the artist.
And, then there are shades of other forms of sufferings like "Fear of Unknown", "Solitary Confinement" painted in a blue ink shade, and "Knowledge Deprived" which tells a story of denial to downtrodden women. "Endless" marks her unbridled suffering in the hours of turbulence, "Torment" and "Valley of Sorrow" depicts the patriarchal dominance of the society among other moving images.
