Veerendra Kumar said he was cheated by a job agent who had promised him a job in Qatar but sent him to Saudi
It's just as well that equality is the artist's chosen theme, because it happens to be the campaign theme for IWD this year too. #EachforEqual encourages collective individualism. What sounds like an oxymoron is, in fact, a call for gender rights to not just be a women's issue, but everyone's issue.
One piece from Kristel's first collection speaks to this in particular. 'She Is King' is not about misplaced pronouns or triggering grammar Nazis; it's about making a statement. Produced last year for Standard Chartered as part of the Art Gap edition to raise awareness on gender pay inequality, it features an acrylic painting of a woman (who's almost a replica of the 'Lion', except slightly more brooding). It's also only half done.
Last year, it came to light that paintings by women sell for 47.6 per cent less than those by men. A powerful exhibition followed at World Art Dubai, with female artists displaying artworks that covered only 52.4 per cent of the canvas. The idea was that if female artists were going to be paid only half their due, they would sell artworks that were only half finished. "I thought the gap was obscene," remarks Kristel, who still expresses disbelief that the disparity in pay between male and female artists could be so wide. "We judge art by the work, not by the artist. We sold those artworks for their full price last year. People understood they were buying a statement, not just a picture. And their willingness to buy such art to raise awareness is how we know we're accelerating change."
Is a future with gender equality at the workplace - one in which, as Sheryl Sandberg once said, there won't be 'female leaders', only leaders - a utopian dream? Kristel says, on the contrary, she actually feels hopeful. "I have a daughter and she's three. Change is happening far more quickly today than it did years ago. Women are not settling. They are asking for more opportunity and equality. Making that a reality even means changing policies on how often dads can stay at home as well. I'm hopeful that the change we seek will be one we can see at least in my daughter's generation."
As for what she hopes women will take away from her work, she says: "I want women to be themselves, and know their worth. To know that they're capable of doing whatever they put their minds to, and support each other. I want them to know they shouldn't settle for less."
karen@khaleejtimes.com
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