Art for Social Change

Art for Social Change

The last few years, Swayam has been actively using art as a medium to creatively showcase survivor voices, journeys’ and using this to reach the general public. In 2019, Swayam collaborated with La Martiniere for Girls School, to create a Mural on women’s safety in the home, at the workplace and in the public sphere based on the experiences and understanding of women survivors of violence we work with, as well as students of La Martiniere for Girls School. About 200 survivors of violence Swayam along with and 30 students from classes VIII-XII participated in the workshops which generated the artwork, thoughts, ideas for a safer world for them. We then worked with artists who translated their ideas in the form of a Mural on the outer wall of La Martiniere for Girls, on AJC Bose Road. The mural was inaugurated by renowned singer, Usha Utthup. This distinctive mural automatically created a talking point on safety and generated a diverse coverage on different spaces and we were able to reach the public through this creative medium.

In 2018, 150 survivors from the Hazra and Metiabruz centres participated in a Wall Mural project titled, ‘And Still I Dream’ where they expressed, through drawings, paintings and craft objects, the dream profession they would have pursued had they not faced any hurdles in life. Starting from being a fish monger to a prime minister, covering professions like teacher, astronaut, pilot, police, lawyer, fashion designer, home maker, doctor, nurse, women expressed their dreams without limits. Their drawings were then put together as a mural by the principal of Government Art College and painted on the north exterior wall of Swayam’s Hazra Support Centre by young artists. A film on the making of the Mural was also produced by Swayam staff who had been trained on filmmaking.

Workshops were designed for both to involve survivors to express their opinions through words, drawings or images. This process not only acted as a tool for self-revelation and self-expression but also proved to be extremely empowering for the women. 

In 2017,  we worked on an art installation, entitled, ‘Voices of Courage and Sorrow – Women in the Dark Speak Out’, in collaboration with Franzisca Greber, a Swiss artist/psychotherapist and the Victoria Memorial. 216 women survivors from all 3 communities expressed their hopes, fears, struggles, joys and journeys on white and red dupattas which were then transformed into 3 installations. These were created during several workshops in Hazra, Metiabruz and Diamond Harbour where the survivors were provided with a cathartic platform where they were able to freely express themselves. These installations were showcased for 13 days at the Victoria Memorial. All the survivors who had written were invited to come to the opening of the exhibition which was inaugurated by Nabaneeta Deb Sen (an eminent Indian writer). Over 400 persons were present at the opening, the highest number Victoria Memorial has ever seen for an opening! Survivors voices were also printed in a book that was available to all viewers and a few of the survivors also read out what they had written for a video that was screened at the venue.

In 2016, on the occasion of International Women’s Day, a survivor was interviewed by All India Radio. She was invited to do so and by sharing her struggles and how she overcame them, she was able to reach out to masses of women all over India. The journeys of two other survivors were also published in two leading newspapers for the event.

See our ‘Survivor Stories’ section to view the video from the event. Media coverage is also listed in the ‘Swayam in the Media’ area.