Blank Noise was created by Jasmeen Patheja in Bangalore, India, in 2003. The volunteer-based, urban, feminist collective originated in response to widespread female experiences of street harassment across the culture, across the country. Gender inequality and the devaluation of women are sadly a part of India’s largely patriarchal society. They exist in a continuum from extreme cases of violence such as dowry deaths, brutal rapes even of children, and acid attacks to low rates of female literacy and education, unfair distribution of labor in the home, and inequity in the workplace. In 2017, India ranked 125 of 159 countries in the Gender Inequality Index. Only 12.2 per cent of Parliament seats are currently held by women, and 26.8 per cent of women above the age of 15 years are part of India’s labour force—compared to 79.1 per cent of men.

Much of the intimidating sexual harassment in public spaces is coolly dismissed as “teasing.” As a student at Bangalore’s Srishti Art School, Jasmeen Patheja began to notice everyday facts like women choosing not to walk alone on the street, instead seeking groups or with a male friend. She recognized that the fear and threat as experienced by women on the street was often made invisible, that invisibilising itself was the concern. Her interests lay in art practice that could be built and led by community, and that might eventually have the potential to heal. Fellow students participated in initial workshops proposed by her to examine “eve- teasing” or sexual harassment on the street, and personal attitudes surrounding it. This was the beginning.

Early projects built testimonials of street harassment, across media, and applying varied questions. Bilingual opinion polls asking, What Is Eve Teasing?, (2005), comprised a list of behaviors identifying street harassment—staring at breasts, blowing kisses, unsolicited conversation, among others. Members of the public thumbprinted what they identified as harassment, leading to dialogue; these polls were hosted in public sites across India. In Eve Teasing Food Chart, (2007), different kinds of nomenclature for food are illustrated (lollipops, jalebi, hari mirch) that have been used to refer to women, often playing on sexual innuendo. The Museum Of Street Weapons of Defense, (2007), asked women to mention one thing they wouldn’t leave home without. The responses included nail files, keys, insect spray, compasses, chilli powder.

Insights from personal accounts led Blank Noise to design street interventions focusing specifically on fear. In Being Idle, (2006-09), women chose to become agents or “Action Heroes,” now #ActionSheroes #ActionTheyroes, a growing set of individuals across gender, age, and class who perform actions informed by their personal lived experience. In this case, they would stand alone or together, most often “alone-together”. ‘Alone-together’ is a separate concept that goes into the journey of the action shero as both a solo and collective one, standing against street railings, apparently occupying positions aimlessly, making eye contact with passersby, trying to “unlearn fear” and access spaces meant for all. Web-based organizing enabled the intervention to be created across multiple geographies. “Fear was no longer a given, but that which was being negotiated through collective action,” says Patheja. The idea for the project Meet To Sleep, (2008), was sparked through a solo experience of sleep. Patheja tried to take a nap in Bangalore’s Cubbon Park, but was unable to. The thought came to her then, “there are more of us in fear of each other than with the actual intention to harm,”—this became the seed for Meet To Sleep. Women must be able to sleep, asserting the right to be defenseless. It led to visualising #MeetToSleep in 2014, and mobilizes women across India (in both rural and urban spaces), Pakistan and other countries. The action is an invitation for women across the world to become Action Heroes by sleeping in public parks. In Step by Step Guide to Unapologetic Walking, (2008), Action Heroes are encouraged to “walk without your eyes fixed to the ground … walk looking at passersby … walk without a dupatta … walk smiling.” In Walk Alone , (2016), women are invited to walk alone in places they never have before, to “gaze at the stars or stop to smell the late blooming flowers.”

Because of the relationship between fear, honor, shame, and patriarchal control most women and girls in India have been raised in environments that warn them repeatedly to be careful, and to protect themselves. While some of the concern may be valid, this dynamic of familial and societal control is oppressive, and can often lead to a shifting of blame: “If you’ve experienced sexual violence, you weren’t careful enough and so you deserve it.” Many experiences of sexual violence are not shared. Having already suffered violence, the victim must now take upon herself the burden of being blamed and judged.

I Never Ask For It, (2005), invites women and girls to share the garment they wore when experiencing sexual violence. Patheja recalls noticing women describe their clothes when speaking about harrassment, as a way of checking if what happened was their own fault. The project imagines “ten thousand garments standing united, in sites of public significance by the year 2023.” The project is motivated by the personal and collective healing it may offer, addressing once again the notion of blame and sexual violence as experienced across spaces, and by the processew—workshops, talks, street interventions, listening circles—it would take to build it. Blank Noise participants (Action Sheroes) report, “We feel safe when we are heard. We feel safe when we don’t have to defend ourselves over and over and over again. I am your safe space, as you are mine.”

Another example of Patheja’s wide-ranging impact is Reporting To Remember, a collaborative research project by activists, academics, students, and organizations that was first initiated in 2009, has been active since 2014, is currently being offered as a classroom project in colleges, and has also been built by interns at Blank Noise to collect and archive media reports where violence upon women is justified. It includes instances of women and girls who have committed suicide due to a fear of social stigma and shame after sexual assault. The archive also features reports of women and girls being forced to marry their rapists due to social pressure. These ongoing accounts are collected in order to live in collective public memory.

Blank Noise emphasizes the collection of testimonials and the creation of public discourse, each conversation informing the next. I first met and worked with the collective in a show I curated in 2010 for the women’s activist group Jagori. Entitled City Transportraits: Women and Mobility in the City, the exhibition was about women in public spaces and coincided with the Delhi Declaration on Women’s Safety. Blank Noise’s work provoked several questions and open debates. Given the history and ongoing sexual violence against women in India (and so much of the world), I believe it is essential to be able to have transparent and inclusive conversations about sexuality and women’s safety; to do so in a way that builds communities, makes us all accountable, and offers possibilities for healing. In a free and just world, we must all be able to speak and exist fearlessly—in our minds and on the streets. In the past sixteen years, and through the work of so many participants and volunteers, Blank Noise has made a real contribution. Amongst other things, it has foregrounded communication through ongoing research, posing urgent and provocative questions, and creating safe spaces to share experiences and be heard. Often using local idioms and humor,  it has furthered an engagement of the public across media, including interventions on the ground, news sites,and on  social media, leading to collective insights and better understanding.