Rising Beyond The Ceiling (RBTC) is proud to host the first edition of the art exhibition “Women Depicting Women: Her Voice & Her Vision” to capture the diversity and different perceptions, share aspects of women’s lives and their stories, and advocate for a new narrative. The exhibition also aims to build an ecosystem for women artists, address their under-representation and raise their commercial potential.
RBTC was founded as a social change initiative. Its mission is to celebrate the achievements and contributions to nation building by Muslim women in India and help change the stereotype narrative surrounding them, doing so in an integrated way, with collaboration of all faiths. Women Depicting Women comes at a pivotal period when more and more women, including from minority and diverse communities, are taking on agency as professionals in diverse sectors, as also seen in our RBTC honorees from across India.
As a global development practitioner for nearly three decades, working in many countries across the world, I have deeply engaged in a variety of strategies related to social norms change for women and girls, from policy advocacy, legal action, programming to research, communications, social marketing, others. I believe that art offers powerful opportunities to express our common humanity, challenge assumptions, spark conversation, connect diverse people, and promote action for positive change. Our art initiative, building on the overall RBTC mission, recognizes and leverages the potential of engaging critical questions of social change within contemporary art.
Visual arts using powerful imagery and colors, can show us what's happening in society and make us ponder on the issues. Art is people’s collective mind. It is not mere amusement, distraction, or fashionable investment. Art shows the entire spectrum of character, from shallow and pathological ugliness to radiant and mystical beauty. Art can foster appreciation of the diversity of humanity. Art can amplify compassion and sensitivity by sharing deep feelings. Art can demonstrate the intricate interconnectedness of the web of life. Art can portray human struggle and suffering but can also uplift and heal the soul. By doing all these things and more, art can encourage and nurture what is best in us and gives people joy and hope.
‘Women Depicting Women’ introduces women artists whose work focuses on a range of stories and deals with personal and collective issues. The spotlight is on the experiences of over one hundred women artists who engage the viewer through presenting a contemporary viewpoint and commentary on gender, women's work, pain, hope, motherhood, roles, responsibilities, and many other dimensions. The 104 submitting artists are based in Lucknow, the hosting city, as well as in fifteen other cities of Uttar Pradesh, nine states in India and five countries across the world. Art works range across age, time, and place, as well as social, political, cultural contexts to represent the diversity of approaches the artists have taken and in the lives of women depicted.
I see the artwork shifting the focus from a woman’s body to her lived experiences. The eight themes that we have developed reflect this shift. I see the women depicted in the artworks coming from all walks of life, fisherwomen, labor women, chairperson, dancer, ‘nyaka’, princess, warrior, working from home, or lost in domestic work, juggling office work and family. Whatever their story, these women all have something in common with each other- and with every woman who sees the exhibition- they work very hard at whatever they do, whether it is paid or unpaid, recognized or not recognized. Motherhood not surprisingly is a theme in a section of the artworks. Reviewing these, I note that the techniques, framing and titles span across a wide range - mother, amma, ‘utpatti’, nurturing, motherhood, mother love, mother & child and metamorphosis. The variety of art styles of surrealism, conceptualism, abstract, expressionism and figurative add to the creativity. Maternal love takes many forms, but one of the most essential is to provide an experience of attunement, to resonate with the inner world of another.
What makes art such an effective tool in addressing social issues is its ability to focus the community on the societal problems. A cluster of artworks in the collection act as a catalyst and draw attention to critical issues faced in the society by women. In the paintings entitled - Illegitimate, Claiming her Space, Life in Acid, Stop Child Trafficking, Anjaam, Right to Choice, Care for the Girl Child, My Body My Choice My Hijab, Humanly Tormented - the artists share creatively the issues from their accumulated experiences and histories within public and private spaces. Art that may be negative, tormented, may be a diagnostic tool for social ills. The art and artists are expressing their truth and fulfilling the mission of art, even if they disturb, or engender fear or anger in their audience. They use their artwork as a healthy form of demonstration, a template to voice their opinions without violence or confrontation.
If we cannot envision a better world, we cannot create it. It is wonderful to see women’s artworks in the exhibition resonate with hope and dreams to inspire and transform us. Several artworks have used the symbolism of flying or rising or blooming to maintain our creative excitement about life. However, many artworks in the exhibition are of pain and longing. In art's mission to reveal the complete range of human character, part of the artist's job is to tell the truth, to describe the world as we live in, and to reveal the condition of the human soul. If our art projects a sad painful mentality, it is an accurate portrayal of humanity’s darker side. There is demonstration of women supporting each other and female resilience in many of the artworks.
My deep thanks to all the RBTC team members to Farzana Shahab, the curator of this event, organizing artist Sabiha Hasan Sumbul and art critic Sahar Zaman, for excellent teamwork to implement this first Rising Beyond The Ceiling art initiative. As part of our objective to continue to support women artists, particularly those from marginalized communities, an RBTC Art Fund is proposed to be established to provide financial as well as mentorship support to new and younger women artists.
To conclude, I believe art has the potential to advance, deepen, and transform the consciousness of the community. Through “Women Depicting Women”, we call for women’s art to manifest its power to uplift and become an inspiring vision for women of all communities.
Dr. Farah K. Usmani,
Founder, Rising Beyond The Ceiling
Link to Dr. Farah Usmani's video message
