Partnership between the HERA SINGLE team and feminist activists from Hidden Pockets locates pleasure pockets for women in Delhi.
On May 23rd 2016, members of the HERA Single project were joined by feminist activist Jasmine George, co-founder of the Delhi-based Startup Hidden Pockets. This initiative is engaged in the construction of positive urban narratives of Delhi through the creation of alternative maps which promote inclusion, information and female empowerment. By combining a wide range of materials, such as pictures, podcasts and videos, they address several topics and trace institutions which are not present in conventional charts. Some examples are abortion clinics, organizations which provide STI´s testing, ART treatment for HIV positives, free medical services and legal assistance. Additionally, they also reveal urban friendly spots for disabled individuals.
In this session, a collaboration was settled between the Startup and the HERA Single team which will result in the mapping project “Hidden Pleasures”. Instead of focusing on omnipresent notions of danger and safety which dominate urban media representations, the project will rather identify spots of pleasure for women in the city, that is to say, spaces where they feel comfortable, fearless and at ease. The main goal here is to encourage female mobility and their right to the city.
Through a joint social media campaign, stories will be collected and urban spots of pleasure will be traced, such as parks, streets, markets, etc.
The team further discussed the shape of this campaign and the necessary mechanisms to make it engaging and accessible to wider audiences.
It is noteworthy that this discussion was also joined by installation artist Sheba Chhachhi, Matthias Arnold from the Heidelberg Research Architecture, Prof. Dr. Cathrine Bublatzky and Huda Alawa from Heidelberg University’s Cluster “Asia and Europe” who made relevant contributions to the project.
Lively discussions and brainstorming session on the possible shape of the media campaign.
Professor Prog. Christiane Brosius makes suggestions on how alternative experiences of the city could be accessed
Matthias Arnold from the HRA (Heidelberg Research Architecture) explains some of the digital platforms that could be used in the campaign
The HERA SINGLE project is funded by the European Union.
