Wolverhampton Literature Festival 2020: Learn about gender equality at panel
A discussion panel about gender inequality in the South Asian community is set to take place at the Wolverhampton Literature Festival.
Invisible Voices: The Art of South Asian Activists will look at how these artists have used their craft to tackle difficult and often taboo subjects.
The panel will be hosted by Wolverhampton-born multi award-winning artist and producer Dawinder Bansal, who is passionate about unearthing hidden stories to amaze, entertain, inspire and provoke audiences.
She said: "I wanted to give a platform to the artists who address gender inequality, particularly within the South Asian cultural context.
"This event continues from my previous installation and film, Asian Women & Cars: Road to Independence which explored the first generation of South Asian women who defied the driving taboo in their youth.
"This was an invisible story about a generation of women who fought to drive and gain independence.
"Sadly, South Asian women still face many of the same obstacles today and this event will explore how art can address gender inequality by raising awareness through creative means of poetry, writing, photography and film."
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Dawinder will be joined on the panel by Whitmore Reans-born lawyer, author and activist Raj Kaur Khaira, whose lifelong passion for gender equality led her to founding the Pink Ladoo Project in 2015.
The Pink Ladoo Project is dismantling patriarchy by encouraging South Asian families to abandon sexist customs and celebrate girls' births.
The second panellist, also from Wolverhampton, is Sarvjit Sra, who is a photographer and also the founder of Apra Heritage project which captured the historical images from private collections of Punjabi families in Wolverhampton.
He is also the father of two daughters and also experienced negativity when his daughters were born.
He launched a project called Girl Child Project in 2019, funded by the arts council England to highlight preferential treatment of males within South Asian culture across faiths.
The final panellist, Shareefa Energy, is a spoken word poet from London and talks about Patriarchy in her book Galaxy Walk.
She will recite a few of her poems as part of the event, while images from Girl Child will also be on display.
The panel takes place on Friday, January 31 at 7pm at the Georgian Room in Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
Tickets cost £11.37 and can be bought at eventbrite.co.uk/e/invisible-voices-the-art-of-south-asian-activists-tickets-82204414617
