Marginalized Girls
Art for Hope exhibition, celebrating the talents of the extraordinary children of SMS Center -Delhi India.
This has been an extraordinary month here in the US. The media has been consumed with the upcoming elections, Covid-19 is surging and California is burning. While justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the US Supreme Court's feminist icon passed away, I’ve been working on a series of portraits of slum and red light girls that I had the privilege to meet during my 5 years in India. Justice Ginsburg did groundbreaking work for woman’s rights and gender equality in the US, rights I never fully appreciated until I became active working with the most vulnerable girls of India.
In 2012 director Evan Grae Davis released the documentary “It's a Girl: The Three Deadliest Words in the World”. The documentary describe millions of girls in India and China being abandoned, killed and neglected due to their gender. According to Unicef, India is the most dangerous place to be a girl, Government officials say more than 63 million women are “missing” statistically across India, and more than 21 million girls are unwanted by their families (The Guardian). One woman is raped every 15 min (S. Varadhan –Reuters).
The fact that girls are unwanted is due to a variety of reasons including the norms governing inheritance, the continued practice of having to pay a large dowry for girls to be married (although the practice has been illegal since 1961 in reality it is still as common as ever) and the tradition of ‘patrilocality’ (women joining their husband's households). This was most visible in the lower casts and rural areas. Drivers told me that boys are viewed as an asset that will provide for the family and take care of their parents’ retirement while girls could be seen as an expensive burden to ‘marry off’. In an interview Dr Anand Krishna confirmed: ““Boys are a better return of investment”
As I came to grasp the dark fate that many Indian girls face, I have been fortunate to meet some powerful and extraordinary women dedicating their lives to fight for these marginalized girls. Woman with unprecedented strength and determination fighting for a cause much bigger than themselves.
Armene Modi was an English professor teaching at several universities in Japan, the US, and India focusing on issues of peace education. Armene told me how she read “May You Be The Mother of A 100 Sons” while teaching in Japan and overnight decided to change course. In 1998 Armene moved back to India, founded “Ashta no Kai” and began a literacy program followed by economic & social development for the empowerment of women and girls in 10 rural villages in Maharashtra. Armene is a fierce and persistent force and most certainly the mother of much more than 100 daughters. She also continues to be a great source of inspiration not only for me but for all who encounters her. Watch her talk at the Parliament of World Religions in Toronto. Listening to her makes me both emotional and proud.
Lalitha S.A. Nayak is the courageous founder of SMS Center in GB Road, Delhi. Her journey started as a medical assistant on a HIV project in Delhi’s red light area. As she became aware of the dire circumstances the sex-workers’ children face, she fought to start a daycare center. Over the last 30 years it grew to a 24 hour care facility for over 70 children born to mothers sold or trafficked and she has changed the lives of hundreds of vulnerable children. Through adversity Lalitha persisted year after year to keep this center open and accommodating as many children as she possibly could. Teaching art at Lalitha’s SMS Center has been a life changing experience. Documentary about my work at SMS Center
Often I dream of going back to India to help Armene & Lalitha in their courageous quest of transforming the lives of children, especially girls with bleak prospects. I dream of continuing to teach and learn from the children of Armene’s Ashta no Kai in Pune or Lalitha’s SMS Center in Delhi. But until that day comes I hope to support their efforts. Next week I will be releasing a series of portrait paintings of vulnerable Indian girls. I hope to grow this series over the months that follow. 30% of all these portrait sales will benefit these incredible organizations. Please subscribe to my monthly newsletter below to be notified when these works have been released.
On my studio wall I have two words “Purpose” and “Meaning”. While supporting this cause, I hope to give the statistics I mentioned above an identity. Show the courage in these girls’ eyes as they face odds stacked heavily against them. Girls are valuable and powerful and absolutely deserves every opportunity in the world!
“Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
