INTERLOCUTION
Gift of Tongue
Gift of Tongue is a title of the solo show exhibited at Seven Art Gallery, New Delhi. The exhibition attempted to project the struggle of women’s voices in our society. It was 2013, and one of the year’s most brutal gang-rapes had outraged the nation and reached an international headlines. Yet the voices of women in this country remained marginalized. Women are objects that can be possessed, distributed, tortured and destroyed at will.
(Detail) from a painting series "Empty Throat" . Bees wax, powder pigment, and glass beads on paper, Untitled, 2013
In Ovid's *Metamorphoses*, women are portrayed as both vulnerable and powerful. Many of these stories depict women as objects of desire, existing as if only for the pleasure of men—possessions to be conquered, brutalized, and discarded through acts of barbaric cruelty.
In the tale of "Tereus, Procne, and Philomela," Philomela, deceived, imprisoned, and raped by her brother-in-law, weaves a tapestry that encodes the testimony of her abuse, which she sends to her sister. This story is one of unimaginable cruelty and revenge, offering little comfort as the metamorphosis unfolds. Yet within the threads of Philomela’s tapestry, I seek the edge of defiance and solidarity among women who have endured extreme abuse.