A girl from Mumbai talks about perceiving beauty, while another woman from Hyderabad shares her story of body imaging, and a Bengalurian lady talks about her problem with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). Writer and illustrator, Indu Harikumar’s recently started a crowdsourced art project called “Body of stories” — which explores and celebrates the many, varied ways of experiencing the human body.
The Mumbai-based artist started the project in January this year, after finishing the viral online crowdsourced project “100 Indian Tinder Tales” in which she illustrated real-life stories of Tinder experiences in India.
She shares, “I would say #100IndianTinderTales, led me to this project on body image issues. When I wrapped up with the former, I was left with a bank of stories and readers, who wanted me to continue with the project. I mulled over them and realised that the experiences of people on the dating app were all so unique! They evoked an emotion.”
“The imperfect stories made me feel at home with myself and provided me with ample inspiration to create art. Since the response on my first project was overwhelming, I took a break and started this one and made it more inclusive. Body of stories is all about bodies, gender and sexuality, and is not limited to people’s experiences on a dating app.”
The idea is to encourage men and women to share their stories, start a conversation about bodies, and normalise them, points out Indu, who complements each story with an illustration. She takes inspiration from European masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli and Edvard Munch, as well as Indian artists such as Raja Ravi Varma for representing the stories.
“Body image is a constant issue faced by everyone, given how women are conditioned to believe that their bodies are something meant to be looked at, and that they must be ‘beautiful’ according to standards set by others. I personally am always finding ways to deal with mine. As a young teen, I used to be very skinny and now I have a filled out body. A man I dated once, told me, ‘Beauty needs space,’ and that’s something I tell myself — that it is okay to not fit in. My body is not an object to punish, hate and constantly improve,” she says.
Referring to the stories used for the artworks, she shares, “These stories make me feel connected with random strangers and give me the courage to redraw our master artists in my own unpolished and imperfect way.”
Some of the topics on which Indu receives stories include slut-shaming, cultural stigma, sexuality, racism, off-limit behaviours, dating and marriage.
“Many of the stories that I receive are based on people dealing with the extra melanin that Indian skin comes with. There are also several stories about fat-shaming, but that I think is a universal problem. Many stories are on menstrual cups and period-shaming, which have raised many discussions and arguments among the contributors. Through the project, I wanted to build an open community. And, it really does give a community feeling,” she shares.
Her favourite stories among the lot are those that talk about gender roles, which we are taught at a very young age. “Segregation on the basis of blues and pinks, dolls and superheroes, naughty and nice — is something that we are taught ever since the time we start getting aware of the world around us.”
Lastly, according to Indu, the project aims to spread the message that human spirit is in constant search of freedom. From blatantly defying socially imposed norms, to negotiating within our given circumstances, we all struggle to find a space for ourselves.
