#2flatbrush
Girija Hariharan is a muralist and artist based out of Bangalore. Girija's works interweave feminism with mythology, in the form of large artworks on canvases and murals, subtly highlighting social issues, hoping for the audience to introspect their conditioning through visual metaphorical triggers. Her latest studio series, titled "Deka", revolve around feminist anthropology themes arranged in the sequence of the Dasavathar concept. Working mainly on acrylics, and on larger than life, or life size paintings, her public artworks are as much about the stories of places and walls as the message carried by the art itself.
@2flatbrush is a total force of nature. Go and follow her work to see some absolutely amazing Murals!
To know more about this initiave, please visit- www.2flatbrush.com
Words by @2flatbrush -
"Pagri", 20 feet by 4 feet strips of Canvas cloth, pigments and binders from @rangotri ri, Acrylics and wall paints and stainers. Installed with two pieces of 20 feet bamboo, like a scroll, Art Installation, Jaipur, India.
Painted for "The Outsider moving Art and Film Festival", organized by @hers.is.ours
Painted in honour of and dedicated to the women textile workers of Jaipur. Thank you to @vikramj0shi of @Rangotri for providing me with the materials, pigments, binders, food, motivation and a whole lot of inspiration from his eco-conscious hand block printing business.
Dear Kamla
Do you know
The cloth you work with
That you so
Diligently block print
With your hands
And scan for mistakes
And fold
With your long bony hands
Becomes
Something else?
For someone?
The cloth becomes
A dupatta -
To hide breasts
From prying eyes
A table mat or runner -
Where women like you
Serve meals
And eat last.
A pillow cover -
Where your unspoken desires
Are never met.
I see you.
These very clothes
Now hang on a wall
Showing you, Kamla
In all your splendor
It holds your independence
It holds your dreams
For your children
It holds your respect
As a Pagri (turban)
On your head
You always cover
For others.
It can be uncomfortable at first
The weight of respect,
For someone so simple.
But don't you see Kamla,
Like respect,
Your Pagri
Is also
Made for you
By you.
- Pagri
Haan, Hum.
We recently conducted a two day workshop, culminating in an art show of Expressionist artworks created by the women of Kamathipura, who work as sex workers.
In association with Kranti, an organisation that works for the children of Sex workers , to make them agents of social change, and funded by Save the Child foundation, the following artists got together and conducted this program, which is probably the first of its kind to combine multi-disciplinary arts like movement, painting and clay to explore the social and mental health aspects in a very playful and impactful way among the sex workers community.
Jaya Iyer, a renowned theatre artist and facilitator, along with myself, Girija, a visual artist and a muralist, and Palak Jha, a ceramic artist got together with Bani Das, the founder of Kranti and volunteers like Neethu and Bhavya, conducted this workshop for about 33 women, that includes sex workers, Kranti girls and their mothers who are in the profession.
The whole experience was surreal and the internal and external changes that this created in all the participants and the organizers minds was extremely inspiring.
Jaya, in one of our closing meetings mentioned that this is the tip of the iceberg, as this initiative completely shifts the creation to the community, with artists just being facilitators and not teachers, and hence art becomes a tool for their empowerment and healing. We plan to process this and discuss on how to take it forward.
We have to amplify these women, as artists, and amplify their art.
