Bhuvana ( blore uni) disagrees with Proff Rao, " once again in the presence of the male, whether he is gay or not, the woman will be silenced..."

"IS THE PROJECT THEREFORE ABOUT THE STREET?
ABOUT WOMEN ONLY? OR ABOUT ONLY WOMEN ON THE STREET?"

Professor Ram Das Rao, Bangalore University feels that the project should be an inclusive one where even the male prostitute should be given the space to 'testify'.  

In its current phase Blank Noise is seeking wider participation. Presentations about the project are being made to college students around bangalore. ( this pic was taken at bangalore university)  

HOT NEWS: TAAZA SAMACHAR 

BLANK NOISE . phase 1:

The workshops enabled the group of girls to explore their public and private identities. At the end of the workshop there were nine participants left and ready to share their experiences with an audience, which they believed was either victim or perpetrator of street harassment.

The photograph above is from the exhibition at Srishti. Each participant has chosen to illustrate her relationship with the public space.

Hot News Taaza Samachar, in which I enacted a news reader that repeatedly read out daily rape reports and in the process was becoming a victim of what she was reading. She, the news reader was in denial of what was being done onto her. At the end she asked the audience “Is this news for you?”

In 1998, the number of rapes reported were 15, 031 (which is 1.5% of the number of crimes reported) and the number of molestations reported are 31, 046 (3.2%). http://www.indialawinfo.com/rightofwomen.html

an ongoing project: 'DID YOU ASK FOR IT'........."DID YOU ASK FOR IT? ” When attacked on the streets the first thing we look at is our clothing. We question if we ‘provoked’ or ‘asked to be made victim’. The garment worn at that point of time contains a memory and is witness to an experience thus becoming a testimony."

also check out http://www.chrisbarr.net/apr_7.htm

sept 2004. it was decided that the clothes would ne 

Email responses:

(In ref to the previous post asking people to discard clothes that they wore when they felt sexually threatened by actually sending it to the blank noise project.)

There were several prompt responses to the idea of gathering clothes as testimonies.

2 MONTHS LATER:
I HAVE NOT RECEIVED ANY CLOTHES.

some of the responses are below...

“I would really like to see this project grow. Though I cannot give you material support, being in Europe and not having (luckily) had any trouble in that direction whatsoever, I give you all my moral support for the brilliant idea.
I got followed a few weeks ago between Headingly and Hyde Park (about a mile of lamp lit street, quite a main road).It was about 9 pm at night. Again I was wearing the same red rain mac(it was spitting-true British weather), with a huge hood so you couldn't see my face. I couldn't particually hear much around me with the hood muffling the street sounds.I WOULD NEVER WALK AT NIGHT WITH HEADPHONES ON, LISTING TO MUSIC.I like to hear what's around me. I was wearing a short denim shirt with red tights and flat knee high boots. I wasn't 'strutting' my stuff. I was marching so fast with authority. The man asked me where I was going and....."Did I have any business tonight?"
Once I was on a day-train going to my grandmother’s and the train was really half empty. There was a middle aged man sitting in front of me and staring at me. He did that for a while, then he felt more confident and started masturbating.
I wasn’t wearing anything that could have provoked him either…
So it is…here in Europe!

This man kept asking me, “so are you from Spain?" i said no." Are you Italian?""no"" are you French"I kept walking faster and kept saying no....finallyhe asked if I was Indian....I said yes and I walked ahead.A week later I went to a university to use their library. I bumped into this very same person. He was a professor there.it was a very strange experience. I still don’t know what his intentions were. I only know that a similar experience in India would lead to a more drastic reaction....things like that are not culturally accepted here..
I'll keep my clothes till you decide. Then I’ll decide whether they can be part of theexhibition. They’re a favourite pair of pants and a tshirt, and I’m not ready to spit them out yet. Thememory you said was in the clothes is not such that Ineed to purge them of something. If anything, they'repart of a powerful experience, in which i retaliated,humiliated the perpetrator, created some awareness. Many of my young cousins (I’m almost 40) were prettythrilled and inspired.

i beat up a guy on brigade rd a couple of months> >ago. he towered over me and I’m sure my blows didn't> >physically hurt him, but I’m sure that a) he was> >embarrassed b) he'll think twice about elbowing a> >woman in the chest again.

Every time I allege misbehavior, I hear everyone pouncing to say, you asked for it.>>Rather my breasts teased the men, my hips invited their *fucking* hands, my eyes beaconed, and my dress was the open invitation--or so it is made out.
Yes, i have been a victim to this, but have not myself provoked the same with attire I was wearing at that point.

I 'm in France, how can I contribute to your project, are you interested by images or new text to print on some clothes?Tell me.
I was thinking about your project and wondered about something. If people discard the clothes they wore when they experienced any sort of abuse, it is tantamount to them saying it happened because of self clothes. It seems to take the focus away from the perpetrator and onto self.0

walking down brigade road

this photo was taken by mukund: on brigade road whil. I was walking around and he was documenting me.
http://www.fotolog.net/machlee