WINDS OF CHANGE: TOWARDS EQUALITY
AN EXHIBITION OF PHOTOGRAPHS

Students from various colleges in Calcutta joined Swayam’s workshop ‘Winds of Change: Towards Equality’ addressing the ideals and realities of gender equality in our society. In order to articulate their thoughts, opinions and observations on the issue, the students chose various modes of self-expression, including photography. The Seagull Foundation for the Arts took them through the process of understanding photography as an art form and using it as a tool to explore the issue of gender equality.

Facilitated by young photographer Shaswaty Nair, the participants plunged into the intricacies of the photographic medium. They studied form, colour, texture and perspective and went out to capture these details with their cameras. The results are evident in the first set of photographs displayed here. The next set represents the students’ exploration of gender equality as an idea and a reality through photography. Each participant chose to depict lives of different women. The theme that emerges from the students’ photographs is that of empowerment. We see in these photographs women who have taken up the mantle of earning a living for themselves and their families in perfect tandem with men. A woman works as domestic help to support her children’s education. A woman ploughs through the mesh of fishing nets that bring in the life-supporting daily catch. A woman collects firewood on her head to cook the next meal for her family. A woman plants seeds in the fields to grow grains for herself, and for the nation. A woman toils in the sun to produce bricks to build the new India. These are glimpses of daily life around us that are familiar, yet often overlooked. The photographs depict scenes both primitive and progressive. They bear witness to the fact that women, through the ages, have shared as much responsibility as any man in earning a livelihood. They also look forward to a future where men and women are equal.