TURN
Design: tsk design taniakhosladesign@touchtelindia.net
Photograph: Anandi Chowriappa
Shifting sands A new map of power The desiring machine Proliferation of contradictory desires and identifications A New Liberation generating multiplicity The seeds of a new revolution. Alka Pande
The new woman It is the coming of age that haunts the Indian woman. Paradoxes exist here all the time –but not in the voice of Cassandra, nor is it the siren of doom. This disjuncture is not a sign of weakness or repression but a transitory passage of empowerment. From it will emerge the new female. In the mythic past of India there lie the repositories of great wisdom and energy, of muse and inspiration for this new woman to draw upon. If she so wants–but does she? The woman who is no longer just a homemaker, is redefining the concept of beauty. Releasing herself from the feminine role of domesticity, she has now entered the labelized market of consumer titillation and commercialized sexuality. With globalization, MTV and FTV have entered the bedrooms in every metro; the new icons and aspiration for women have reached an international tenor – from Madonna to Julia Roberts, from Aishwarya Rai to Mira Nair. Today, inundated by current sociology, magazines and popular fiction that espouse the ‘be sexy and smart competition’, the contemporary woman seeks silicon implants, sexual orgasms, single parenthood, and skimpy outfits. Illustrations and photographs of scantily clad and nude women, once considered disreputable, now grace billboards, calendars, television, movies and magazines. The exposed female body appears ubiquitously as our primary public symbol of ‘eroticism’. Mother India, Devi Maa, Dharti Maa are replaced with Superwoman. The body too has undergone a sea of change – from heroines of yesteryear – the heavy breasted, big hipped repositories of fertility that were so attractive to the Indian psyche, to the contemporary woman – sculpted with toned abs, defined muscles and lean supple silhouettes. And what was unattractive then is now the pinnacle of desire.
But the change is not all – encompassing. Women in the Asian sub-continent continue to bear the burden of their own gender. Still deified or commodified and to a large extent the bearer of the seed, nurturer of the home and the hearth, her sexuality is sanctioned by the geography she occupies, placing her in the vortex of contending social forces. On the one hand, centripetal tendencies toward increasing globalization and integration, and on the other hand, centrifugal tendencies toward nationalism and fragmentation. It is here that the disjuncture of non-empowerment for women is situated. On one hand her sexuality is being celebrated, while on the other is her positioning as the secondary citizen of the household. She eats the leftovers, becomes the ‘pativrata’ – the obedient and faithful wife, who is expected to bow down to her husband as her lord and master. This consequence of interplay between the puritanical attitudes of the upper castes (especially the Brahmin) and the Victorian morality of the conquering British, had lead to the imposition of stringent sexual mores and erosion of womens’ freedom which persist to date. In this light, the Indian woman has fractured experiences of sexual exploit and victimization, arising from social schisms based on race, class and creed, not allowing her any integrative experience. She remains the ‘second other’. Today, the empowered Indian woman is being compared to powerful, independent goddesses and is simultaneously a victim of the voyeuristic male gaze, entrapped by a dysfunctional cultural system. However, despite these contradictions in society, the Indian woman’s life today is 1– 2– 3 forward and at the same time 3– 2– 1… The About Turn exhibition is particularly close to my heart. It attempts to foreground the subject of women, in particular, issues of identity, spectatorship, agency and gender, represented and examined through a graphic trajectory.
Alka Pande Monsoon 2004
I half-suspect my mother was afraid to be a woman... Yes, genuinely afraid. I don’t really know whether she would’ve preferred to be a man (never asked), but this much I did notice: she seemed scared and uncertain about her own gender. And not entirely comfortable with her sexuality. This, despite the fact that she was married for 60 years to an adoring, progressive husband who treated her like a queen. I now realize her anxieties had nothing to do with him. “Fear of men” defined her generation. Of course, she was a “puraney zamaaney ki aurat.” But in so many other splendid and glorious ways she was more “today” than a lot of so-called modern women I meet. Women who spend their lifetimes posturing and pretending to be “empowered.” My mother’s responses were devoid of any pretence – if she did, in fact, feel shakey about her own sex, she was free to admit as much and xpress her insecurities. Society did not condemn her to playing a fake role. To that extent, she was spared the rather tiresome charade which was later imposed on my generation. We were compelled to participate in a “movement” which may not have had much relevance to our social realities. It was a movement that originated in the West, and addressed specific problems faced by women living there. As for us? We went along, like obedient foot soldiers taking our orders from invisible generals whose personal agendas were never disclosed – not to us third-worlders, at any rate. Our ideas of “emancipation” and “empowerment” remained at a recycled, regurgitated level, rarely rising above the clichés we were fed by ardent American feminists who ruled our mixed-up lives. But…no regrets. At least the seed had been sown and the process of evaluation kicked off. That too, by women who dazzled the world with their courage and brilliance. Yes, I felt happy to be a woman. And continue to feel that way. I wish my mother were alive today. I would have loved to engage this lively lady in an “equal” dialogue about our respective experiences as women. For, there are countless times when I wish I could switch places with her. Somehow, even those distant doubts seem more honest than the current pressure of staying certain and steadfast in ones commitment to “femaleness.”
Aaah…my four daughters! What do they know, I silently wonder? And let them revel in their identity as women of the 21st Century, proud and secure within the comforts of their gender, genuinely trusting of the future and immensely confident about their own individual potential. This is the “we can make it happen” generation. I wish them well. I envy their optimism, I admire their “can do, will do,” buoyancy. Maybe, their dream, their vision, their determination, is really and truly not part of any modern myth. Maybe their world is better defined than mine, better prescribed than my mother’s ever was. I want to believe that. For the power to change, rests with (and within) these women. It is a power more potent than the combined powers of several split neutrons. When it is finally unleashed on the world, it will no longer remain the same universe. I hope I’ll still be around to share in its glory and marvel at its mystery. Only then, will I be able to mourn my mother’s death with the dignity it deserved – and didn’t get – from me. You see..I too was scared. And foolish enough to disguise and suppress my fears. Shobhaa De
PhotoInk, a photo agency and design studio, was established in September 2001. While the photo agency is committed to producing and promoting documentary photography, the design studio is an extension of our larger vision to inscribe an image sensitive iconography in the print and interactive media. Both the photo agency and design studio work independently but draw upon the capabilities and resources of the other to serve a project’s particular needs. With syndication partnerships in the US, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, PhotoInk is keenly exploring new ground with the Western press.
PHOTOINK
l Artist Book Material: Offset Size: 6.75” x 7” Photographs: Anay Mann Editor: Devika Daulet-Singh
Locating this series of images in the context of photography in India is interesting. While photography in the Western world has been elevated into the bastions of the art world, it remains a ‘hand-maiden to the arts’ in India. The pictorial genre is still alive in many quarters and the dominant codifiers of reality remain enshrined through photojournalism. In Anay Mann’s images, the canonical truth of the single image is abandoned and replaced with a grammar that is constructed. The lines between fiction and truth get blurred. As much as these portraits are a pointed commentary on the changing identity of an urban Indian woman, they also serve to reflect on the inherent narcissism in each of us. The metamorphosis of the childlike woman into a woman who is aware of her self and her sexuality subverts all preconceived notions of Indian femininity.
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GOPIKA CHOWFLA
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Women’s breasts are the most public private parts. Commented on, discussed, ogled at, breasts seem to play not just a biologically functional body part but are a socio-cultural factor that influences women’s place in society; the job that liberation and emancipation had, that did not seem to have changed anything.
l Breasts Material: Digital print Size: 26” x 40”
From logos for small NGO’s to brand identities for well established MNCs, as a designer, Gopika Chowfla enjoys flexing her creative muscles to stretch and extend herself to as varied a range of assignments as possible. The design studio has never won a single award because no work has ever been sent for a competition, however, many more precious accolades have been accrued over the years from a far more critical audience – clients, colleagues, and members of the design fraternity. Today Gopika Chowlfa Graphic Design ranks among the top design studio’s in the city/country.
Gopika Chowfla studied graphic design at the Faculty of Fine Arts, MS, University, Baroda. She spent nearly 15 years in leading advertising agencies before setting up Gopika Chowfla Graphic Design in 1997. The design studio is based in New Delhi and comprises of a permanent team of designers as well as bunch of nomadic and talented writers, photographers, film makers, interior designers, coffee drinkers who wander in and out of the design space, always adding an invaluable energy. The design studio specializes in brand development, retail graphics, packaging, brochures, corporate identities, books, catalogues, websites, advertising campaigns, editorial design and making very good coffee.
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VIVEK SAHNI
DESIGN
“everything tends to suggest that there is little connection between an object and that which represents it” (Rene Magritte, Les Mots et les Images, La Revolution surrealiste, no. 12, December 15, 1929.)
This work in five parts is concerned about the fluid relationship – of particular interest in this context – between a subject, its image and any meaning that may arise in the viewer.
l Untitled (SIS) Material: Digital print on photographic paper Size: 27” x 27”
In transforming concepts into powerful communication, VSD utilizes a strategic approach, tailoring design solutions to each client’s unique requirements. We believe that these requirements transcend any one stylistic tendency with the result that our work can be described as visually heterogeneous while still being effective, focused and memorable.
Started in 1993, Vivek Sahni Design is built on 11 years of design experience, with diverse projects ranging from creating magazines, to re branding ‘Khadi’ and ‘Kendriya Bhandar’, creating the first Lakme India Fashion Week to festivals and signage systems for INTACH and Corporate Identity Programmes.
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tsk Design, a graphic and communication design firm was founded by Tania Singh Khosla in 1996. During her MFA at Yale University and on her return, Tania has been involved in experimenting with a here/there visual vocabulary, nimbly negotiating the relationship between global influences and cultural context in design. The firm, a motley collection of inspired designers with varied experiences and instincts – converge to define an informed, yet intuitive take on contemporary Indian design.
About Turn is a limited edition artist’s book that deliberates on the contradictions in the perception of women in India. Using a constructed juxtaposition of images from popular culture, sprinkled with poetic text and highlighted by graphic intervention, it extrapolates the Good/Bad; Silence/Action; and Black/White of the urban societal gaze on/at women.
l Artist Book Material: Digital ink on paper Size: 5.53” x 7.85”
The firm’s belief in the positive impact of good and relevant design drives both their professional work as well as their exploratory initiatives.
tsk Design has been featured in numerous international publications such as Eye (UK) and How (USA). Their work has been exhibited at Global-Local, a British Council show traveling across India and to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Tania has been invited to speak at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (London) and The Indian Design Forum (Delhi).
The firm’s expertise is in brand identity design, editorial design, retail graphics, architectural graphics and web design. From defining a strong global brand identity for Biocon, to designing experimental and edgy graphics for MTV and The Park, tsk Design works across spaces, pushing the boundaries to arrive at strategic and definitive design solutions that have the ability to effect change.
tsk DESIGN
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GREEN GOOSE
DESIGN
The show topic ‘About Turn’ denotes a circle and this work illustrates that in graphical form. The photographs depict both positive and negative female models; all within circles. The backdrop of multicoloured dots too shows the situation with the use of arrows that depict the circular movement.
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The studio’s mandate is to support the advertising and design needs of the various businesses and individuals the company engages with. Effective and relevant design that interprets and presents the communication goals and the personality of the customer are what the studio tries to achieve. Green Goose has a wide array of clients in industries ranging from fashion and lifestyle to services.
Green Goose Design is a graphic studio that operates as a part of The Communi-cation Council, a brand consultancy located in New Delhi.
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Appropriate and original. Fun and function. The intersection between a professional practice of making a strategy visible, tangible, evocative and of personal expressions in the pursuit of making an impact; DesignCumulus is a multi-domain design studio happily occupied working with graphics, furniture and interior spaces design projects.
DESIGNCUMULUS Each movement (artwork) has a progression from one to the other. All artworks have a raw simulated woodcut style to portray the issues as part of a raw, ‘rooted in action’ movement. The progression implies a state of action (or at least the need for it). Intrinsically non-aggressive, the movements and progressions attempt to convey a sense of tension between faceless, anonymous protagonists and the issues surrounding them. The movement essentially progresses to revise an existing order and hierarchy.
l Movement 1,2,3 Material: Silk screen printed on paper Size: 18” x 23”
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Fisheye is a small graphic design firm with big ideas! Based in New Delhi, we are a total of six members including a golden retriever! The Fisheye Team comprises graphic designers and communication professionals who share the passion and excitement of the change that good design is bringing, influencing life and industry both globally and in India.
‘About Turn’ in this poster art takes a positive point of view in the form of a logo or ‘sign’, which is formed by altering the female symbol by adding an arrow that both moves forward and yet seems to be coming around. The logo is subtly displayed against a riot of colour and powerful brush strokes which celebrates the diversity, spirit and strength that exists in Indian women across various cultures and sections of our society.
l The Sign Material: Digital ink on flex Size: 31” x 39”
Fisheye is currently researching the style and language of Indian visual culture through a graphic and illustrative approach. ‘Fisheye on India’ aims to represent a more real India, in a way that is both graphic and illustrative.
We build powerful visual brand identities through design, communication and research. Strong networks with professionals and educational institutes in the field of industrial design, architecture and visual communication keep exploration, debate and learning an essential part of the environment. Fisheye has also designed several books, interactive presentations and publications for organisations committed to education, women, children and environment issues in India.
FISHEYE
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Urban women, their status in contemporary society, the pressures they face juggling careers, husbands and children has been an abiding interest of Roshni Jaiswal. All through the establishment and running of two successful nightclubs 180 Proof and The F Bar and Lounge, Roshni observed the pressures and pleasures of women young and old as they negotiated urban life in the cities of Bangalore and New Delhi. This interest has led to an attempt on her part to structure an event that will highlight the paradoxes of a woman’s life today. The exhibit ‘About Turn’ was thus conceived by her colleague Arjun Sawhney as a result of their discussions. The show is an attempt to bring attention to this topic close to her heart. The medium chosen was graphic art, a form that allows for a wider interpretation of the title given the setting where the show would hang – The F Bar and Lounge. This choice is appropriate, as the works would seem in place with the hip and modern settings of the space.
Acknowledgements Amrit Kiran Singh, Brown Forman Transasia Fine Papers Pvt. Ltd. Pragati Art Printers Dr. Alka Pande Shobhaa De Devika Daulat Singh Gopika Chowfla Vivek Sahni Dave Chang Tania Singh Khosla Roopak Sharma Aditya Pande Anjila Purie Martand Khosla Sonalee Kumar
With special thanks to:
Brown Forman
With special thanks to:
Conqueror Papers
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