Artist Shweta Bhattad has been working on a community art project that focusses on hygiene issues faced by women in the villages around Nagpur. She shares the details with Divya Kaushik
The medium of metal and paint for her is a tool for social awareness. Artist Shweta Bhattad has been working for the last four years with framers in the villages around Nagpur. She began working for community art projects with the intention to bring out to the world the poor condition of farmers. “Being a farmer’s daughter I have seen the problems faced by the community. When I started visiting the villages I found our that the situation that they live in are far more worse than most of us can even imagine. We hear stories how a family of five survives on one meal a day or how poor families make their children habitual of killing the hunger pangs with water.
I have interacted with such families and saw their sufferings. Then there are other problems of hygiene and sanitation, especially for women, that are least talked about. So the aim of my community art project was to create not only awareness but also generate revenue by the sale of the artworks,” says Shweta, whose works, presented under the title Kabhi Namak Tumhe Kam laga Kabhi... Kabhi Namak Tumhe Zada laga Kabhi, will be on display at Gallery latitude 28 during the lado Sarai Art Night and the forthcoming India Art Fair.
There is a section of the show that brings to light the socially relevant and sensitive issue of open defecation. Shweta has been exploring the subject for the last one year in Paradsinga village, MP, through art projects and residencies. In Paradsinga a large number of people defecate in the open, in vulnerable situations exposing them to pig bites. This section will hold stories of such women and their prints in Bharat Mata attire. A part of revenue of sales from her artworks will be used to build public toilets in the village.
“There’s lack of money to build toilet there and people are unaware about health and hygiene issues. When I went to the village and was talking to women there, they revealed that they have to defecate in open and are exposed to pig bites. I discovered that pig bites are very common amongst villagers. The sufferers of pig bites are mostly children, menstruating women and old people who can’t stand up as soon as the pig approaches them. I can’t wait to convince authorities to grant funds for building public toilets in the village. I decided to make a public toilet which will be very low cost and easy for people to access,” says the artist.
The exhibition mostly feature metal sculptures that are designed in the form of elaborate chastity belts. “Since this is about making people aware of the women hygiene issues, I have used the form of chastity belt to convey the underlying message,” says Shweta, who initiated Gram Art Project to bring together the art fraternity and work for the cause of poor farmers. “The project aims at uniting visual artists, performing artists, art critics, architects, social workers, farmers and people working in diverse media.
We want them to collaborate and work with local community on issues related to environment, promote organic farming, social and health awareness, women education and other important issues related to village and its social development. To develop opportunities for collaborative work that interacts with the rural environment is also our foremost objective. The project also serves as an interactive platform for artists to share ideas,” shares Shweta.
