Hands of Hope

A Photographic exhibition of Women Workers throughout the country....

Recently (on 15th March 2008) a photographic exhibition of Women Workers throughout the country by photographer Sanjay Kumar was organised by NGO 'SEWA Bharat'. Entitled 'Hands of Hope' at Mati Ghar, Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, Janpath. The exhibition was inaugurated by Dr. MAXINE OLSON (UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative).

The theme of the exhibition was "Hands of Hope," and all photographs and information presented highlighted the various facets which constitute this central idea. The pictures illustrated the many different forms of labor and income-generating activities in which SEWA members are involved, including individual and collective forms of struggle against corruption, diminishing natural resources and economic opportunities. Women have been shown engaged in their daily income generating activities, such as bidi rolling, embroidery and participation in micro-credit collectives, and will also be shown caring for their families. One section in particular delves into SEWA members' experiences as working homemakers, illustrating women in the midst of balancing the double burden of their livelihood and household activities.

The photographs are intended to document SEWA members' stories of obstacles and successes experienced in their struggles to establish and maintain self-sufficiency, with a special focus towards particular moments of joy and the hopes and dreams which members have for future generations and communities. Each photograph was accompanied by a brief notation, highlighting the activities presented and the state from which the subject hails. For example, in SEWA Murshidabad, where approximately 95 percent of SEWA members earn income from bidi rolling, the photographs will show the women actively engaged in various stages of the bidi making process. In Delhi, where SEWA members represent a multitude of trades, women will be shown engaged in aari work (embroidery), as pheriwalas (old clothes traders) and vegetable vendors working in the markets. Similarly, the lives of embroidery workers, salt workers, construction workers, and tobacco workers from Gujarat; forest workers, street vendors, and bidi workers from Madhya Pradesh; service providers, such as nursing assistants and canteen workers from Kerala; and silk weavers and agarbatti (incense stick) rollers from Bihar will all be captured through photography and exhibited. Short excerpts from the women's life stories, gathered through personal interviews, may also be included to further contextualize the images.

The intention was to highlight the various trades in which women engage in order to support their families, especially those trades associated with specific geographic regions, and to honor these demonstrations of women's empowerment. Through this exhibition, the audience (members and non-members of SEWA) have been presented a real-life illustration of the lives of SEWA members from around the country, reinforcing SEWA's philosophy of solidarity and collective struggle for self-sufficiency. SEWA, being the largest Trade Union of women workers in the informal sector with more than one million members, will represent the story of thousands of women workers throughout the country. SEWA members represented in the exhibition were from all nine of SEWA Bharat's member organization states: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Kerala, Rajasthan, West Bengal, and Uttarakhand.