THE BANGLE SERIES
Reflective series
Artist Kisalay P Vora is passionate about bangles.
While for most women bangles are just another adornment in
daily life, they have long been used as a symbol of shame and weakness in India. The Hindi phrase, “Choodiyan pehen rakhi hain kya?” when directed at a person, implies that the person is
weak and a coward. This phrase drove Kisalay to distraction and made him want to change the very connotation of the sentence. “Why bangles? What’s weak about bangles? It’s like saying: You are like women, therefore you are weak. Why are women saying this? What cultural message are they sending out when they do this?” asks Kisalay.
In a bid to change the very notion that bangles are symbols of weakness, Kisalay has created a series to draw attention to this issue, championing the cause of equality and drawing
attention to the subliminal messages embedded with these oft
repeated and demeaning phrases. Kisalay has chosen bangles as the vehicle for his message because of their inherent beauty and symbolism. Elevating them from their role as mere adornments and accessories, he has placed them in a context that makes them meaningful and which raises them to a different
perspective.
“I have heard many women saying “ladki ki tarah mat roh”, or “yeh meri beti nahin, mera beta hai” or the ultimate: gifting
boxes of bangles to men in power, as a way of telling them: you are weak. For me, that’s a very disturbing image,” Kisalay remarks.
His works on this theme represent the dichotomy of power and weakness, pride and shame, courage and cowardice – from
employing a spine to represent the strength of a person while simultaneously using it as a stand to display bangles, to the
sculpture of a macho, muscular arm adorned with large glitzy bangles, Kisalay wants his pieces to evoke a visceral reaction from the viewer and enable them to realize that femininity is
a source of positive energy and not the reverse, and it needs
to be respected as such.
“Equality cannot be given, it must be taken. Until women
correct their attitude toward themselves, any equality that is
introduced from the outside, will be thrown away. Society will bend forward and women will bend further back. The gap will remain,” says Kisalay.
The solution? “The solution is to register your protest, as I have in my works, and hope it catches on and becomes a movement. Bangles are objects of beauty, not of weakness! So the next time you gift bangles to someone, gift them to honor the person,”
concludes Kisalay.
For more information, please contact the artist Kisalay P Vora on +91 98206 90660 or email him on kisalaypvora@gmail.com.
“Choodiyan pehen rakhi hai kya?’ means ‘Have you worn bangles?’. This phrase is used very casually in India when one wants to belittle a man. Its a strong gender biased comment, and even women have accepted it as a coping mechanism . “Ladki ki tarah mat roh” meaning ‘Don’t cry like a girl’ or “Yeh meri beti nahin, mera beta hai” meaning ‘This is not my daughter, she is my son!’… are used regularly in practically every home. These statements have been used over the centuries without being questioned for the gender bias they propagate.