Picturing
Power & Potential: A Project of Economica, a large-scale juried
photography exhibition with over 50 extraordinary and moving works by artists
across the globe celebrating women as economic participants and agents of
change!
INDIA -
GUJARAT - KUTCH REGION - LOWER CLASS WOMEN - CHALLENGES FOR
PROTECTIONS AGAINST EXPLOITATION IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY - SEWA
ADVOCACY
Photographer: Ariko | Tokyo/Kyoto | Japan
|
Kutch - Gujarat,
India. 2007. Medium
format.
|
Several tribes live in the Kutch
region of Gujarat in the harsh desert of western India.
The women wear traditional handcrafted clothing, and their colorful finery,
elaborate tattoos and silver jewelry are unique to their individual tribal
traditions. They weave, sew and embellish their beautiful fabric, passing down
their knowledge of the craft to the next generation of women. Like many small
economy crafts, this tradition is being usurped by technology and the demands
of the global economy.
Their dress is remarkably
beautiful, so you would never guess that these women are part of India's
lowest caste. The life of working women in India's
lower castes is notoriously brutal. More than ninety percent are self-employed,
with few labor laws to protect them from exploitation. However, since the early
1970s, the state of Gujarat has set up the Self-Employed
Women's Association (SEWA) to protect women from usurious lenders, corrupt
police, and an indifferent justice system.
Ariko moved to San Diego,
California, at the age of 17 from Kyoto,
Japan. She received a BFA
in photography from Parsons School of Design in New York City
before returning to Japan to live in Tokyo
in 2005. Ariko has published photographs from her travels to Iceland
and has had several solo photography exhibitions in Japan.
For more information, visit her website at www.aarriikkoo.com.