Zubaan

'Zubaan’ is a Hindustani word meaning tongue, voice or language. It is often used in a pejorative sense to refer to ‘women’s talk’, or ‘gossip’ – generally for women who talk too much! We are proud to reclaim the term on behalf of all those whose voices are silenced or marginalized by the mainstream, and will continue to be heard no matter others say. Worldwide, the campaign poster, an immediate, often ephemeral form of art and communication, used to mark an occasion, to mobilize support, to confront opposition, has received considerable recognition both for its aesthetics and its politics. In India, however, while film posters and some art posters have received a little recognition, the political poster has not had much attention. And yet, different forms of political mobilization have made use of posters, and many campaigns, such as the campaign for the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, or against the Narmada dam, are remembered as much for their actions and strategies, as they are for the posters that accompany them. This is also true of the Indian women's movement. The Poster Women project began with the idea of locating and archiving as many posters of the movement as possible. The idea was to look at how the women's movement and its concerns could be mapped visually, to ask what the history of the movement would look like through its posters and the visual images it had used. Welcome to Poster Women.