Be Careful

In a country where women are continually exposed to the danger of male violence, the only advice given to girls is to “be careful,” to not provoke. Victims of violence are often blamed for provocative behavior, while no man is held accountable. How does it feel to try to shake free of taboos and speak openly about your body and your identity as a woman in a country where the female body is itself an enormous taboo? Or to be weighted down by an injustice you can’t express in a society that orders you to keep quiet and hide in order to survive? How can art bring about social change?

Mallika Taneja summons the courage to speak about all this using her last recourse, her body itself, in a spare, powerful performance. In traditional Indian acting troupes, actors travel from village to village, becoming one with their roles, step by step as they traces the entire country. Mallika Taneja, too, has been “living” this performance for over five years, courageously baring her body and, with the insistence of one drowning in injustice, to seek justice at all costs.