Introduction
Exhibit & Reading Room at Gender Bender 2018
Kadak Collective for Gender Bender 2018 has created a set of graphic works around the theme of ‘breasts’. Boobs, breasts, nipples, have been a contentious topic over the last few years, with lots of discussion and debate on all issues related, especially on social media. Our intent is to open out and explore this theme in different settings, situations and across cultural contexts — ranging from mythology, the male gaze, adolescence, motherhood, male breast reduction surgery, mastectomy, clothing and advertising. The pieces have taken on different visual forms — including comics, zines, illustrations, infographics and written obituaries.
OUR EXHIBITS
‘Alphabreasts’ by Akhila Krishnan and Shreyas R Krishnan uses the structure and format of an ‘A-Z’ list to take us through all things related to ‘breasts’.
We are interested in exposing the literal and metaphorical constructs that have emerged around the word. In this project, we reveal, discuss and explore this construct through presenting the anatomy, processes, mythology, language, and cultural references connected to the word ‘breasts’.
In this way, we hope to reframe what the idea of ‘breasts’ can mean beyond mere sexual objectification, and create a space for discussion and conversation.
‘Babbla Bros.’ by Mira Malhotra (Babbla is vulgar slang for breasts in Hindi) is a fictional store/shop that sells unrealistic blouses and lingerie designed by men, to their women customers. Presented as a catalogue of advertisements through the years for ever-changing, innovative bras and blouses that seem, superficially, to have evolved for women’s needs. The intent is to highlight how little we as women get to control our own bodies and lives, how we are consistently packaged for men and how minimal our representation is in industries which affect us so greatly. With the use of humour and sarcasm in today’s Indian context, we aim to make the reader / spectator realise that no matter how much we progress technologically, our society’s attitude towards women remains tragically frozen in time.
‘Guy-Ne-Ko-Kya?’ by Aarthi Parthasarathy and Sanika Palsikar is a short piece on Gynaecomastia, which is the condition of enlarged breast tissue in men. It looks at this fairly common disorder of the endocrine system, the effects it has on the patients suffering from it, and the way doctors engage with them through the process.
Male breast reduction surgery is quite common in India now, but it is hushed up — the emotion it brings up is often embarrassment. Many men express shame at having ‘women-like breasts’, ‘man-boobs’ or ‘moobs’. This research-based graphic short is based on interviews with men who face this condition and have opted for surgery to address it as well as the doctors who treat them.
‘Obituary of a Boob’ by Pavithra Dikshit is a series of tributes to breasts, specifically the loss through surgery.
The loss of a breast or breasts is an acutely painful experience, which can be difficult to comprehend, for the person experiencing it as well as friends and family. These obituaries acknowledge this loss, and celebrate the life of a body part now laid to rest.
Breast Cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. However, death rates from breast cancer have been on the decline since the last decade, primarily due to better screening and early detection, increased awareness, and continually improving treatment options. And with advanced technologies, the odds of having to lose your breasts are minimal.
‘It’s Obsession’ by Kritika Trehan is a project which reduces society’s obsession with ‘boobs’ to something as mundane and boring as data and statistics. Each statement/ anecdote will be presented via a statistic/data visualisation whether it’s a jab at boobs in advertising or even something more personal as buying a bra and avoiding male gaze. The project will highlight how people around us value these secondary sexual organs as a measure of beauty and how that, in turn defines our own relationship with it.
‘Arcade’ by Rae Zachariah. A young girl has to learn very early about how to strategize her way through social situations. An ordinary task like running to catch a bus needs to be carefully calculated with math, physics and some divine intervention from an underwired sports bra.
Adolescence is happy to dish out generous helpings of insecurity to all awkward teens, but even more so to young girls out there, who haven’t yet learnt how to love and live in her own skin. Stares, glances and snickers have taught her to be incredibly conscious of how she moves, her size and what she wears.
Through a series of arcade games she grew up playing, Rae aims to highlight these strategies and techniques she’s had to develop while growing up. She has created a set of vibrant paper cut posters of RAC-MAN, TIT-RIS, and SPACE INVADERS.
‘Hum Do, Humare Do’ by Priya Dali is a short comic that highlights the life of a pair of boobs trying to balance out their roles as a nurturer and a lover. It explores the dynamic between a woman’s breasts during the postpartum period. Her role as a mother and a partner and also her relationship with herself. Due to the stigma and inherent complexity of breasts themselves, the nutritive and the sexual function of breasts is spoken of, but in isolation and never in harmony. During motherhood, that lines gets blurry. The two contrasting functions seem to be in direct conflict with each other at first glance. Through this comic, she hopes to celebrate the duality of breasts.
‘Big Titties’ by Janine Shroff is an abstract visual piece on breasts, the male gaze and the monstrous/ grotesque. It takes the form of a poster-zine in which various scenes of exchange about breasts, propriety and society, which are Indian in setting, but can be identified with across cultures, are shown with sarcastic captions that bring out the inherent ironies of these situations.
OUR ARTISTS
Shreyas R Krishnan is an illustrator-designer from Chennai, with an affinity for the drawn image. She is curious about the ways art, design and gender intersect. Through drawing and writing, she tries to understand the construction and endurance of memory — how, why and what we remember. Shreyas lives in St.Louis, Missouri, USA.
Akhila Krishnan is a visual artist, film-maker, writer and designer who works between London and India. Her interest and background in documentary film-making tempers her approach to her comic and illustration work, which often takes inspiration from real events; incorporating processes of interviewing, journaling and reportage. She has recently been shortlisted for the Laydeez Comics Prize (2018, UK)
Mira Malhotra is a graphic designer, visual artist and illustrator. She runs an independent professional design practice, Studio Kohl, by day. Her personal work tends more towards image-making and lettering. Her interests lie in all that is encompassed by D.I.Y. culture: self publishing zines, indie music, politics, activism, etc. more particularly gender and mental health.
Aarthi Parthasarathy is a filmmaker and writer who co-founded Falana Films, a Bangalore-based creative studio for artists and practitioners. She created the webcomic series ‘Royal Existentials’ and has also written a number of short graphic stories, working with visual collaborators. She likes working with themes related to gender, politics and existential angst.
Sanika Palsikar is a graphic designer and illustrator whose work largely is related to information visualization and creative education tools. She also enjoys research related work for content creation and narrative based work. As a young entrant into the design field she aspires to work with human centered graphic design for effective communication strategies for masses that might not have access to mainstream media.
Pavithra Dikshit is a graphic designer and artist based out of Mumbai, India. Explorations in the cross-sections of life and design, within the Indian context, outline a major part of her practice as a designer.
Kritika Trehan is a graphic designer by day,artist by night. Her work is rooted in nostalgia, gender, vernacular and pop culture and she has a new found interest in hand lettering. She enjoys using humour and loves print and web equally (almost).
Rae Zachariah is an illustrator and graphic designer who has found most of her inspiration from music and pop culture. She realized that the hours spent being a sloth on the internet, with little to no human interaction, triggered some sort of a creative practice. She creates illustrations, gifs and animations that stem from her own sense of humour in the hope of earning a chuckle from the viewer as well.
Priya Dali is a work-in-progress illustrator, a part-time joker and full-time bhukkad. Her work mainly revolves around the themes of sex and sexuality. As a queer individual, she feels driven to use her skills to facilitate the process of unlearning assumptions and prejudices about the LGBTQ+ community in India.
Janine Shroff is an artist and illustrator based in the UK. Her work is figurative and occasionally surreal — utilising bright colours and humour with darker undertones. Androgynous bird characters and humans enact fantasy scenes, mostly in mundane and domestic landscapes. Her work explores a range of themes including birth, pregnancy, relationships, sexual identity and gender; from the worship of fertility, both historic and modern.
SPECIAL THANKS to Chaitanya Krishnan, Anushree, Sunando C and Nahim Abdulla for their help in setting up the physical exhibit. We are grateful!
