2 weeks ago
Monica Dhaka's Photo Show Rethinks How We See Acid Survivors
An artist named Monica Dhaka made a show about people who survived acid attacks.
She wanted people to see them as more than just their scars.
First, she showed the survivors a close-up picture of an elephant's skin that looked like a tree branch.
That was her way of explaining how looking very closely can change what you see.
Her show has big pictures of scars that look like mountains or land.
It also has portraits of the survivors with their own words.
She talked with eighteen survivors from a group called Brave Souls Foundation in Delhi.
The idea started when she saw a survivor asked to move seats on a train.
The foundation once had to move because neighbors did not want to see survivors' faces.
Dhaka hopes people can appreciate the survivors, not just feel sad for them.
Artist Monica Dhaka created the photographic and mixed-media installation 'Before You See the Scar' to reframe how acid attack survivors are seen.
The show features eight abstract works titled 'The First Look,' six close-up pieces called 'Skin Landscape,' and eight black-and-white portraits paired with survivor texts.
Dhaka worked with 18 survivors from Delhi's Brave Souls Foundation after witnessing a survivor being asked to move seats on the Delhi metro.
Brave Souls Foundation lost its previous premises after the surrounding society refused to renew the tenancy, saying survivors' faces 'ruined their day.'
The installation first showed at the Academy of Fine Arts and Literature in Delhi and is headed next to Dhoomimal Art Centre.
- Who
- Artist and photographer Monica Dhaka, working with 18 survivors from Delhi's Brave Souls Foundation
- What
- Created 'Before You See the Scar,' a photographic and mixed-media installation that challenges the instinct to see acid attack survivors through trauma alone
- Where
- Delhi, India
- When
- Recently; the first show was held at the Academy of Fine Arts and Literature in Delhi, with a second show planned at Dhoomimal Art Centre (exact dates not stated)
- Why
- To provoke viewers to appreciate survivors as people who are 'more than just her scars' rather than defining them by pain, trauma, or statistics
Humanizing Representation of Survivors
Trauma-Focused Coverage and Social Discomfort
How acid attack survivors should be represented
Humanizing Representation of Survivors
Dhaka argues coverage should centre on what survivors want people to know about their lives, saying they are 'more than just her scars' and criticizing typical coverage that falls back on 'the pain, the trauma, or just the numbers.'
Trauma-Focused Coverage and Social Discomfort
Prevailing media coverage and public attention tend to focus on pain, trauma, or statistics rather than survivors' own identities and wishes.
Public discomfort versus acceptance of survivors
Humanizing Representation of Survivors
Dhaka's work asks why people can appreciate an abstract image but not the person, and survivors at the first exhibition joyfully touched the prints, fascinated that their scars could be given 'a meaning which is not a sad story.'
Trauma-Focused Coverage and Social Discomfort
A fellow passenger asked a survivor to move seats on the Delhi metro, and a society refused to renew Brave Souls Foundation's tenancy because seeing survivors' faces 'ruined their day.'
Key facts
- Artist
- Monica Dhaka
- Installation
- Before You See the Scar
- Partner organization
- Brave Souls Foundation, Delhi
- Survivors interviewed
- 18
- First venue
- Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, Delhi
- Upcoming venue
- Dhoomimal Art Centre
- Installation sections
- The First Look; Skin Landscape; eight black-and-white portraits with text
- Origin
- Inspired by a Delhi metro incident where a survivor was asked to move seats
Quotes
Monica Dhaka
Artist and photographer leading the installation
“"Sometimes you see something and you just can't do anything about it."”
firstpost.com
“"There's no agenda, we're not doing anything, we just have fun."”
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