by WISCOMP

These words from The Clothesline, a work of Monica Mayer (Mexico, 1954) at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale found resonance at the WISCOMP workshop 14 kilometers away from Fort Kochi at the Seminar Hall of St. Teresa’s College. A participant at the workshop said, “I went for my morning walk today at 5:30 am. I did not worry about what the men sitting at the tea stall across the road from my house have to say about my looks or why I was out so early…after all Kochi Marathon is just 15 days away, I can’t let a small group of men decide if I practice or not.” 

Girls and women are socialized to obeying the ‘lakshmanrekhas’ and over time these become unquestioned givens until, one day, the resistance begins…. how many of these lines have been drawn each day – of an appropriate time, of right space, of correct words, of decent dress, of loving…