In 2021, while working on the care(less) project, I was introduced to the topic of water scarcity. In this project, I explored environmental issues in general and water protection in particular. Still, during my research, a report on ‘gender and water’ was one of the things I learned about the regressive impact of environmental issues on gender equality. But it was the online exhibition ‘women, water and work’ really struck a chord with me and made me empathise. In this exhibition, I was surrounded by what I saw as a pressing issue – environmental issues leading to water scarcity and women’s unpaid domestic work in fetching, collecting and storing water becoming more onerous. I was struck by Prashanth Vishwanathan’s autobiographical work ‘I dream of going to school’ and Shataakshi Verma’s documentary ‘Water women of Tikamgarh’. I realised that although I did not have the skills to be a lobbyist, a lawyer or a politician, nor did I have the money to make huge investments or sway public opinion, what I did have was creativity and art. Until then, I had not been subjected to gender inequality nor realised how little rights women had in those areas where water was scarce. At that moment, I felt the resonance of art. So I wanted to give a voice to those treated unequally by gender and bring the pressing issues of the times to the forefront in the universal form of art. Since then, I have been researching the impact of environmental problems on gender equality, one of which is evident in the disproportionate impact of environmental issues on the water on women and girls worldwide. Women have also been placed in an unequal position regarding access to water. They are physically exhausted to fetch water, their bodies are physically oppressed by water, yet their access to water is restricted.
YANTING'S GALLERY 