HOPE PAINTERS: KOLKatA / INDIA 2018
THE BEAUTY OF HOPE
Location: Red light district, 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: As many women in Kolkata experience daily exploitation in their home, which is usually their work place as well, we were open to opportunities to provide images of hope in people’s homes, based on the pretext that having a wall painted with positive images of freedom, beauty and dignity would help them to feel loved and valued.
“The very first step in nonviolence is that we cultivate in our daily life, as between ourselves, truthfulness, humility, tolerance, loving kindness.”
THE HIDDEN STORY - by Rahel Lam
While we were painting the sari wall, Mira came up to me and asked if we would paint a bird at her home. Since we started working in Kolkata, we always dreamt about bringing art into the woman’s houses, as this is where they are the most affected by exploitation and domestic violence. We made different variations of bird sketches which delivered the message of love, protection and freedom. Finally she chose her favourite drawing with a swan carrying her within the wings.
A few weeks later we stood with color in our hands in her room.
Meanwhile Mira asked me to call her Didi, which means sister in Bengali and I knew what an honour it is that she invited us to her place to make an artwork for her.
She had a huge smile as we were preparing and sketching on the wall. We had our kids with us and so we sat all on a bed in a tiny room, around nine square meters, including kitchen and bed, and I tried to ensure that our kids were fine while Damon was working on the wall.
Suddenly Didi made a sign that she was now going to sleep and I was wondering how and where until she took a pillow and laid under her bed. My little girl was so excited about the fact that Didi can sleep under the bed that she laid next to her and a few minutes after she slept deeply with my little girl in her arms. I looked at my sister, my Didi, who experiences such a difficult life and now is simply sleeping.
What an incredible moment! And I asked myself:
“Where are the relationships in which I can let myself fall and fall asleep?”
This is one of the many moments, where she showed me how trustful a relationship can be. At the end she looked at the wall painting with shinning eyes and she gave me a hug and smiled like the happiest child in the world.
* Woman’s name has been changed to protect her identity.