We The People: Hailing The Female Form And Feminist Voice

The display by artist May­uri Chari from her ongoing series, I Am Not Created for Your Pleasure, harks to regressive patriarchal norms that dictate what a woman must wear, eat, say, and do, and in time, turn her into a mere puppet, ashamed of her body, her sexual desires. The yonis (Sanskrit: vulvas), symbolic of Shakti, shaped from cow dung, question societal norms that allow animal excreta as fuel in the puja room but stop a menstruating woman from accessing the same space. Her bold defiance and fresh ways of portraying women, the­ir bodies, and raw sexuality, have brought this young emerging artist to the limelight. Mass-prod­u­ced forms and repetitive patterns have become her visual aids to present gender discrimination and disparity among the weaker sex, women.

The artist, who shuttles between Goa and Mumbai as home, belongs to the Vishwakarma community, who, albeit part of OBCs (Other Backward Castes), practices a few Brahminic purificatio­n/cleansing rituals.

A menstruating woman is seen as capable of 바카라�polluting바카라� any person or thing she touches. Bef­ore intervention from progressive relatives and her own decision to boycott these restrictions, Chari was confined to one corner at home when on her periods. She could not attend events, had to only use the back door, hide in case of visitors, wash her used items separ­ately, etc. While the men never interfe­red, her mother was the staunch cus­todian of this patriarchal morality.

The final push came during her Mas­t­e­r바카라�s in Painting at SN School of Art, Hyd­erabad Central University, when Chari presented a few self-imprints of her body in class. The shame and ridicule from peers made her understand the limits of self-expression a woman is allowed. Instead of disappointment, she conducted a survey, questioning colleagues about their perceptions of the female body, menstruation, etc. Most 바카라�respondents바카라� stayed tight-lip­ped, which irked Chari into writing her first poem, Monologue of the Vagina바카라�Are You Asha­med Of Me?

Opposition to her art is rife even today. Much like the reactions to exposed genitalia in art history바카라�strategically placed drap­ery to vandalism바카라�hours before the opening of her show at a Mysore gallery this year, Chari was asked to de-install a work showing three nude women. Instead, she covered the work with a cloth and stuck a note on it that cautioned: 바카라�Don바카라�t open, I바카라�m nude inside바카라�. The work was also rejected by a museum in Mumbai, citing nudity. 바카라�But I am showing it at the Berlin Biennale, without a curtain,바카라� says the 30-year-old.

Chari바카라�s mother바카라�s saris have become a canvas for her stitched vocabulary. Two works바카라�Mein Ghar Tak Hi Seemit Hoon (A  Woman Is Limited To The Home), a line stitched in 16 Indian languages as a counterstatement to feminist ideals, and Arise, Awake and Educate, Sma­sh Traditions바카라�Lib­er­ate, the motto by 19th-century reformist Savitribai Phule바카라�stand out. 바카라�I made it for my mother, who did not perform the shuddhikaran (purification ritual) after my father바카라�s passing away and is still barred from the kitchen and mandir on 바카라�ausp­icious바카라� events.바카라�

Not all inherited traditions are in vain. She attributes her experiments in cow dung and trousseau embroidery to learnings from her mother during sch­ool vacations. 바카라�바카라�Otherwise, what will your mother-in-law say?바카라� my mother would say. Mastering these skills was her way of becoming independent, but only skills that made others happy. However, even I create only for the masses, and make them easy to comprehend, nothing highly conceptual.바카라�

(This appeared in the print edition as "Vulvas in Cow Dung and Other Stories")

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