Women in Times of Flux

Photographs by Sarvesh

The other night, commenting on the relationship between art and realism, Irfan Habib felt that while the former could tell us a lot about a society, he was not sure that what the societies stood for – i.e. their ideologies – were reflected in art. The eminent mediaevalist was moderating a panel discussion on Ebba Koch’s impressive book on Mughal art and its relationship with Imperial Ideology. At a more quotidian level however, as Habib pointed out in conversation, the Akbarnama had paintings of the Emperor inspecting construction sites – where both Muslim and Hindu women were at work. The real world was reflected in art – a world quite different form the present day where Muslim women certainly do not work at breaking stones.

They do however go to school in larger numbers than ever before and as Sarvesh’s arresting photographs show us, the burkha is hardly a deterrent. As beautifully kohled eyes smile mischievously at us from the confines of metres of black material, we recognise the power of the female gaze, repeated again and again in the photographer’s 51 images. Called `Women in Times of Flux - Herstory’ – the latter a take off on the word coined by American feminists in the nineteen eighties - this gutsy woman held an exhibition in the latter half of September at the India International Centre’s Annexe Art Gallery in New Delhi. Those who visited it found visuals that concentrated on women and the girl child. A Bania bahu (her words) who decided to leave an abusive marriage in the late eighties, Sarvesh soon learned to handle a camera with ease and dexterity. In 1990 she became a photojournalist and was awarded a prize for her work on war at the Kargil Photo Competition organised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in 2000. Thinking little of driving a two-wheeled scooter up to 11,000 feet Sarvesh has travelled to many parts of the country shooting compelling images.