Community Arts: KOLKata / INDIA 2018
THE BEAUTY OF COMMUNITY
Location: The Cup cafe community centre at Gateway, Kolkata, India
Time: 2018
Project partner: Freeset, an organization that has been providing employment and a community of freedom for the vulnerable women in Kolkata.
Background: Thousands of women in Kolkata’s largest red light area are trapped in the sex trade as a result of poverty or trafficking. Daily they are used, discarded and unwanted until the next customer arrives. The Cup community centre seeks to offer these women a place where they can experience supportive community, have fun, discover hope and move towards freedom. The Cup cafe reaches towards the transformation of lives and community.
THE HIDDEN STORY - by Damon Lam
There were always men hanging on the street outside the building when we were renovating the cafe and we did not find it easy to get close to them, as we saw them as taking advantage of women who have been forced into a system of human exploitation.
While we were doing the wall sketching, our son was really fascinated by the gambling men sitting in front of the gate and one man invited him to accompany his card play.
They observed our painting work and once when we experienced some technical problem on the gate painting, a man came to help us scratch off the excessive paint.
Slowly they become our friends, bringing us Chai tea and protecting us if anyone come to disturb our work, and were curious about our paintings.
If we start a friendship with the neighbourhood, then they cannot be our enemy anymore.
So if we want to see transformation in community through our work, we should not segregate good and evil people, victims and oppressors. The system is often much more complicated than we think, as most of victims can turn to be the oppressors, and oppressors can play a role of victims too.
We strongly believe that healthy relationship is the key that change can happen, by spending time and taking care for each other.
