Cart is emptyFor my Audiences project of the FAT2 Practice module, I have chosen to imagine I’m working for UN Women in Nepal. The idea is that we are going to run a campaign to try and end Chhaupadi.
Chhaupadi is the act of seclusion that women in rural Nepal have to go through during their menstrual cycles. During this time they are deemed unclean and untouchable. They will not be allowed to touch anyone, cook the food or enter a temple. As part of the process, they aren’t allowed to sleep in the house with the rest of their family and instead are forced to stay in either a small hut that has been erected for such occasions or to sleep in a shed with cows or goats. There are some dangers associated with this from snake attacks, rape or even death from being out in the elements. There have been some deaths to young girls reported recently, with one woman dying from carbon monoxide poisoning after a build-up of the dangerous gas occurred when the small heater she had in the shed with here malfunctioned.
For this assignment, I’ve made two double-page spread adverts to run in the Himalayan Times on valentines day over concurrent pages. The first spread would have two pages of valentines messages, and painted over the top of these would be the question “do you love your…” with some female family member groups mentioned. The hearts are supposed to look like they are painted with blood.
The second spread would be just over the page and has a full-page picture of a typical hut that these women would be expected to stay in, with the phrase “a woman’s place is in the home” printed. I have chosen to reclaim this old sexist saying and use it for good. In the west a few decades ago, the phrase was meant to discourage women from going to work, but instead to stay at home and cook and clean. In this context, I’m choosing to use it to show that a woman should be sleeping in the safe family home, rather than in a cold and dangerous hut in a field.
I wanted to show the beauty of Nepal with the harsh reality of the women’s plight. In so doing I have merged a few images to show a field, the hut and the Himalayan mountain range in the background.
NOTE: UN Women have in no way endorsed these images.