Shock, anger, empathy, fear, sadness, admiration — a couple of hours at an ongoing exhibition on the fourth floor of Park Mansions in Park Street is likely to stir a gamut of emotions in you. Titled ‘Empowerment. Art and Feminisms’, the show resists easy categorisation.
Presented by Goethe-Institut Kolkata with support from Apeejay Surrendra Group, the exhibition offers a global perspective on feminism through the prism of art. Bringing together works by women and queer artistes, it reflects 31 feminist viewpoints that hold up a mirror to women’s place in their respective societies — and, collectively, in the world at large.
The exhibition is organised into seven thematic chapters — Herstories & Other Narratives, Desired & Violated Bodies, Feminist Futures, Gender & Identity, Labour of Care, Planetary Challenges, and Resistance & Protest. Curatorial notes provide historical context, tracing the evolution of feminist art. One such reference is to The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago (1974–79), which reimagined the all-male gathering of The Last Supper by “inviting” 39 women from across history to a symbolic table. While pathbreaking, the work later drew criticism for its limited representation of Black women — a gap addressed decades later by Patricia Kaersenhout in her postcolonial response, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner Too? (2017–21).
Most exhibits are contemporary, though some draw on earlier histories. Tejal Shah’s 2018 lenticular print revisits the Chipko movement of the 1970s, depicting village women embracing trees to prevent them from being felled. That act of resistance resonates with ongoing protests by tribal women such as the Chita Andolan in Madhya Pradesh against the Ken-Betwa river-linking project.
Across the exhibition, the female body — long objectified and violated — is reclaimed as a site of resistance. In many works, the gaze is no longer passive but confrontational: defiant, relentless and unapologetic. In a society where anatomy is often tied to notions of femininity, Boryana Rossa confronts these assumptions head on. Her three-photograph installation, Madonna of the External Silicone Breast, celebrates her breastlessness following a double mastectomy.
Elsewhere, Tracey Rose reimagines herself as Sarah Baartman — the so-called “Hottentot Venus” who was exhibited across Europe in the 19th century — reclaiming agency over a history of exploitation.
Performance and video works add another layer. A 25-minute recording by Lerato Shadi shows the artiste wrapping herself in white adhesive tape before violently breaking free — a visceral act of self-liberation. In Presencia (2017), Regina José Galindo stood in silence for two hours over 13 days, wearing the clothes of 13 women murdered in Guatemala — a stark protest against gender-based violence.
The Labour of Care section features Arshi Irshad Ahmadzai’s Burqewali series, where a burqa-clad woman’s face is obscured by everyday objects — scissors, a hammer, a pumpkin, neem leaves, a handi, even a clothing iron — each symbolically reinforcing the domestic roles imposed upon her.
Technology, too, is woven into the show through lightboxes, augmented reality and virtual reality. One of the most striking works is a nine-minute animation, Gamer Girl. Structured as a four-level game — Baby, Career, Pregnancy and Love — it charts a woman’s journey through conjugal life. The player must “win” each stage to survive, but in a wrenching final turn, the odds prove insurmountable.
“We’re really proud to bring ‘Empowerment. Art and Feminisms’ to Calcutta. It’s a high-calibre international show, and what makes it special is the range of work on display — poetic, humorous, subtle, thought-provoking, often all at once,” said Astrid Wege, director of the Goethe-Institut Kolkata. “Gender equality has always been central to what we do. It is also one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and we believe it shapes all our futures. When women are educated, empowered and free, societies can truly grow and flourish.”
The exhibition has been years in the making. Curators Andreas Beitin, Katharina Koch and Uta Ruhkamp began planning it during the Covid years.
The original edition opened in Wolfsburg in 2022–23, bringing together around 100 works from nearly 50 countries.
Since 2024, a South Asian edition, co-produced by Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg and the Goethe-Institut, has been touring the region. Sandbox Collective has joined as collaborator, alongside artists such as Mithu Sen, Shilpa Gupta, Tejal Shah and
Pushpamala N.
After stops in Pune, Delhi and Colombo, the exhibition has arrived in Calcutta and it runs here till Wednesday (11am to 7pm), before moving on to Mumbai.