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Why Is This Indian Woman Painting Her Face Black In Protest?
Jaya PS has vowed to paint her body black to protest the growing intolerance against the lower-caste Dalit community in India.
With a masters degree in art, Jaya lives in the southern port city of Cochin. She paints her body with collyrium — a type of dark medicated eye shadow — whenever she leaves her home studio.
Photo Credit: www.thehindu.com
Jaya’s elder sister, Jalaja PS, also an artist, helps her paint her body every day. It takes Jaya and her sister about two hours to paint the body black.
“I decided to paint my body black while appearing in public after Rohith Vemula’s dead,” she told the BBC.
The news of Vemula’s death “stung” Jaya and she thought of a “way to express [her] solidarity with the Vemulas of India.”
Photo Credit: indiatoday.intoday.in
Rohith Vemula was a 26-year-old PhD student at the University of Hyderabad. He killed himself on January 17, 2016, after suffering from caste discrimination on campus.
His death has become a rallying cry against injustice and indignity.
Vemula was the same age as Jaya, which made her wonder why he was denied the same rights she enjoyed. Sadly, even today, the answer was because he was of the Dalit caste — "the lowest caste in the Hindu system."
“Black represents the lowest strata of our caste system. Caste is closely related to colour and whatever is black us not welcome in the Indian society. I experienced its severity when I started painting myself black,” says Jaya.
Photo Credit: www.cinemascene.in
An elderly woman while travelling on a bus called Jaya a Putana — a female demon from the Mahabharata.
Because of culture and narrowmindedness, anything black or dark is looked down upon in this superficial society. So Jaya chose the colour black to represent her protest for the discrimination against the caste system.
Jaya has vowed to be “black” for 125 days! On the last day of her protest, she will host a gathering of Dalit writers, artists and activists. She plans to give a classical dance performance that day along with releasing a book about her experience of “life as a black girl.”
Many artists think Jaya has a unique approach to protesting.
Photo Credit: her.yourstory.com
Bose Krishnamachari, president of the Kochi Biennale Foundation, says, “This is one of the most unique ways of the protest that an artist can think of. It is [about] time artists took a proactive role in sensitising the society that is so prejudice about issues of gender, caste, colour, and creed. [Jaya] has used her life itself as the medium of performance art.”
People may come to ask Jaya why she has painted herself black or they might cringe from her appearance, but her protest is making people think and talk about an important issue.
Main Image Photo Credit: www.hindustantimes.com
Farah Quraishi
Author
Farah Quraishi is a Journalism graduate from Sheridan College, she teaches story writing to young adults, has won a best documentary award at BEAC Awards, and enjoys fashion, nature, and Bollywood. She always had a passion for writing and decided to pursue that path.
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