The South Asian Feminism of ‘In Our Own Backyard’

‘How many feminists do you need to change an electric bulb?’ asked Indian writer and activist Kamla Bhasin and author and illustrator Bindia Thapar in their book Laughing Matters (2004). ‘Answer: FIVE. One to change the bulb, two to write about the PROCESS and another two to make a video.’

The joke feels apropos to Asia Art Archive’s latest exhibition, ‘In Our Own Backyard’, which draws from the personal archives of two prominent artist-activists: New Delhi-based Sheba Chhachhi and the late Lahore-based Lala Rukh, both of whom used photography to document women’s movements in South Asia beginning in the 1980s. Accompanying programming featured an invigorating lecture by artist Salima Hashmi – a founding member of the Pakistani organization Women’s Action Forum – who underscored the importance of humour in feminist activism and artmaking.

The women’s movements depicted in the show were spurred by concurrent incidents. In Pakistan, they arose in response to women’s oppression under Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq’s 1978–88 military dictatorship; in India, they were catalyzed by a surge of dowry killings. The exhibition title comes from a printing manual written and designed by Lala Rukh, produced in a screenprinting workshop she held in Lahore in 1987. These self-organized events, which enabled women to publish and circulate printed matter, were critical amid government media censorship in Pakistan at the time.

Curated by Samira Bose, Özge Ersoy and Sneha Ragavan, ‘In Our Own Backyard’ features extensive photographic documentation of gatherings and demonstrations across the region as well as posters, books, pamphlets, songs, video footage from international conferences and other published material designed to spread messages of gender injustice to the public.

Upon entering Art Asia Archive’s library, Lala Rukh’s Subh-e-Umeed (Dawn of Hope, 2008) – here presented alongside her manual – is immediately audible. The ten-minute looped recording features sounds from Lala Rukh’s immediate surroundings, which range from birds chirping during her morning strolls to activists chanting slogans at protests, including those in which she participated. The audio slowly transitions into Hindustani classical music – an influence from her father, who organized the culturally significant All Pakistan Music Conference. By opening with this sonic work in the library – a challenging venue in which to stage a visual arts exhibition – the curators offer a sensory experience and important context.

Images from Chhachhi’s ‘Seven Lives and a Dream’ (1980–91) – a series pairing photographs of protests with portraits of feminist activists, most recently on view in the landmark exhibition ‘The Imaginary Institution of India’ (2024–25) at Barbican Gallery, London – are displayed on iPads. Chhachhi allowed her subjects to dictate how they were portrayed; in one striking example from 1990, feminist activist and writer Urvashi Butalia poses confrontationally behind her many typewriters. Also on view are Chhachhi’s photographs of the 1983 ‘Kriti’ workshops in New Delhi, where female participants cultivated skills and agency by engaging in creative activities from which they were typically excluded.

Developed concurrently with her screenprinting workshops, Lala Rukh’s ‘Sigiriya’ (1993) series comprises lithographs of the ancient city’s water gardens blurred under hazy pastels. The artist’s mixed-media approach recalls the collaging techniques she used to make posters, while also chiming with a nearby display of three lightboxes from Chhachhi’s ‘The Yamuna Series’ (2005). Depicting a woman holding identification papers, superimposed over the banks of the Yamuna River – then a site of displacement as rapid urbanization and population growth led the river to become extremely polluted – the work foregrounds her experience of being uprooted.

The show’s emphasis on archival ephemera and documentation supplements and contextualizes Lala Rukh’s and Chhachhi’s artworks. This thoughtful braiding highlights the significance and coherence of their practices, presenting their art and activism as wholly imbricated during a critical juncture in South Asian art and feminist histories.

‘In Our Own Backyard’ is on view at Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong until 30 August 2025

^{Main image: ‘In Our Own Backyard’, 2025, exhibition view. Courtesy: Asia Art Archive; photograph: South Ho}