The Hindu : Front Page : A historic journey down memory lane with women of India

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 27, 2005

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Front Page

A historic journey down memory lane with women of India

Special Correspondent

DAZZLING ALL THE WAY: Eminent theatre personality Zohra Segal and historian Romila Thapar releasing "Re-presenting Indian Women 1875-1947 -- A Visual Documentary" edited by Malvika Karlekar (extreme right) at the IGNCA in New Delhi on Wednesday. Pho to: Rajeev Bhatt

NEW DELHI: Seldom can "wobbly attempts'' at photography with a box camera be expected to find a place in an exhibition. Let alone, for that matter, "indifferent reproductions'' or photocopies. But then pure aesthetics was not the primary concern of the Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS) when it decided to mount a visual narrative of the history of Indian women.

Through catalogued archival photographs and dog-eared pictures from family albums, a new show in town, "Re-presenting Indian Women 1875-1947: A Visual Documentary", seeks to take women's studies from close-knit academic-activist circles to the vast open public domain. The exhibition -- first mounted here in the Capital in December 2001 -- has staged a comeback this week at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) but with some additions gathered along the way as it travelled to other cities over the past three years.

"We compromised on picture quality because we felt it was well worth the effort to include the hazy images as each had a story to tell,'' says the curator of the exhibition and editor of The Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Malavika Karlekar. "We see the photographs not only as moments frozen in time but as aids to understanding the country's multi-faceted history.''

Also, the focus is not just on women who made a name for themselves. Rubbing shoulders with the likes of the legendary painter Amrita Sher-Gil, theatre personality Zohra Segal and freedom fighter Kalpana Joshi are several unknown faces.

Set in five sections, this visual journey begins with "Visualising the Family" since the earliest photographs of women and girls placed them in the context of the family. Thereon, it moves to "The Learning Experience" which shows women taking the first tentative steps into the world outside.

"World Beyond" records the growing presence of women in the public domain -- be it as agricultural labourers, lawyers or doctors -- while the section on "The National Movement" shows the process of women's evolution as active political beings in a crucial period of Indian history. Wrapping up the journey is "Towards the Midnight Hour" which articulates the hope that ushered in freedom and the challenges women faced getting to the designated hour.

Billed by sociologist Andre Beteille as a collection of "great ethnographic and historical interest'', the exhibition was inaugurated here on Wednesday evening by Ms. Segal, who called for proper recognition to the "common woman" whose contribution has been immense in shaping Indian society.

The inauguration also saw historian Romila Thapar release a publication based on the exhibition, "Visualising Indian Women 1875-1947" -- again edited by Ms. Karlekar -- and "A Passion for Freedom -- A Story of Kisanin Jaggi Devi".

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