Feet up, eyes glued to television, magazine in hand, house in a mess and she is in her own world of relaxation. The "Right to leisure" poster was brought out by Asmita, an Andhra Pradesh based NGO. Those gathered for the launch of ‘Our pictures, Our Words’ book published by Zubaan, could relate very well to the poster.
From left – Subramanian Vincent, Padmalatha Ravi, Laxmi Murthy,Maithreyi Krishna Raj, Ammu Joseph. Pic: Anisha Nair
The pink poster is one of the hundreds of other pictures in the book. Sucharita Ishwar, a feminist said, "even women have the right to leisure and this poster says it all."
The evening of March 31, 2012 saw a lot of men and women getting together at Jaaga – KH road, for the book launch of "Our Pictures, Our Words" by Laxmi Murthy and Rajashri Dasgupta, published by Zubaan. The event was organised by Network of Women in Media, Bangalore (NWMB), Jaaga and Zubaan publishers. The book is a compilation of pictures, posters and graffiti of the various women’s movements across India. Zubaan started collecting all the posters and pictures for the book since 2004 and it took almost 6 years to complete the collection.
The book is visually attractive to the younger generation. Laxmi said, "in this book, the pictures are speaking for themselves." She added that they had to be very particular about the simplicity of the book’s design so that the design would not overshadow the pictures. The pictures in the book speak for themselves and each poster is a symbol of how women have fought for their rights and brought about a change.
The book launch was followed by a panel discussion on Feminism and its relevance in today’s India. The panelists included Laxmi Murthy, Ammu Joseph, Independent Journalist from Bangalore, Maithreyi Krishna Raj, former Professor and Director, Research Centre for Women’s Studies at SN DT Women’s University and part of the Women’s Movement since 1975, Padmalatha Ravi, Associate editor, Citizen Matters, Just Femme and Subramaniam Vincent – Co-founder, India Together, Citizen Matters.
Most of the discussion centred around how to ensure feminism is relevant to today’s generation, both men and women.⊕