For around a month now, posters showing couples kissing in public spaces have been appearing across the Mumbai suburb of Bandra. They're on building walls, tempos, drainage pipes and electric boxes.
Not everyone is happy with this. “Mystery posters of white-skinned couples in a tight clinch, smooching each other, have shocked Bandra residents and passers-by,” reported Mid-Day, in an article polling people for reactions.
Surmised Indiatimes News, “None could have taken the courage to stick such posters during the day, which leaves one with no other alternative but to assume that these were pasted during the night.”
Scroll.in contacted the artist behind this to find out what this person made of the furore around the project. The artist, one of a small group of people called Limits Within, wanted to remain anonymous as people have threatened to file a case for obscenity against those responsible for the posters.
“We wanted to explore what was forbidden and what was permitted,” the artist said. “Who has access to public spaces? It’s patriarchal. There is garbage. Spaces are hijacked for political and personal use. But when you have something as basic as human intimacy, people have a huge problem with that.”
Making the project
The photographs were taken over a year, the artist said, and all of them were consensual, with the knowledge of those who posed inside them. The person was amused by how so many media reports said that these were images of foreign couples.
“There is an idea that Indians can’t do something like this," the artist said. "But except for one couple in the stickers, all the people in the images are Indians.”
All kinds of relationships were shown in the posters, added someone who was photographed kissing in one of them. While some were young couples, others had been married for years. This person has been married for 20 years and has children.
“I haven’t worn the same outfit since the posters were put up,” this person continued. “But the outrage really is more about the people outraging than about us. The artist is using PDA [public displays of affection] to draw attention to hypocrisy and our indifference to things that are actually in decay. India’s morals are fine, I’m sure.”
Reaction time
Taking the photographs was only the first part of the project. The artist is now keenly watching how people react to them. The person did not want to exhibit these images in a traditional gallery, saying that the project was equally about how people react to the images, both online and offline.
While there were long conversations online debating the morality of the posters, the artist admitted that how viewers reacted to the posters on the road was more interesting.
“Some people are shy – they want to see it, but also don’t want to be seen,” the artist said. “Others are voyeuristic. In one sense, there is a face you put online. That is why we are documenting what we see on the roads.”
The artist added: “People say that this is wrong because kids, women and old people will see it. So at male-dominated places like chai and cigarette shops or lavatories, the posters remained for longer [without being ripped down]. At bus stops where there aren’t only men, they were removed much faster. That might be because men control those spaces.”
In one place, the artist placed a poster of a homosexual couple kissing next to another of a heterosexual couple. The one with the homosexual couple was scratched out faster. Posters also went much faster from more genteel neighbourhoods such as Pali Hill than from less-privileged areas near Bandra station.
Though the person who participated in the project was photographed in a public space, passersby did not seem to react to their kissing at the time. The backlash came only when the posters were put up.
“The average film poster is quite horrendous, it objectifies women," this person said. "These are just fully clothed couples indulging in public displays of affection. You see this all the time at Carter Road”, which runs by the Arabian Sea.
The artist now plans to extend this project to other parts of the city, possibly with the help of strangers, to see where the posters will stay and where not.
“We won’t know how people will react to the posters until we try,” the artist said. “We want to move this beyond the few of us who are involved now. That’s why we want people to write in, pick up the stickers.”
You can track Limits Within on Facebook and Instagram.
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Not everyone is happy with this. “Mystery posters of white-skinned couples in a tight clinch, smooching each other, have shocked Bandra residents and passers-by,” reported Mid-Day, in an article polling people for reactions.
Surmised Indiatimes News, “None could have taken the courage to stick such posters during the day, which leaves one with no other alternative but to assume that these were pasted during the night.”
Scroll.in contacted the artist behind this to find out what this person made of the furore around the project. The artist, one of a small group of people called Limits Within, wanted to remain anonymous as people have threatened to file a case for obscenity against those responsible for the posters.
“We wanted to explore what was forbidden and what was permitted,” the artist said. “Who has access to public spaces? It’s patriarchal. There is garbage. Spaces are hijacked for political and personal use. But when you have something as basic as human intimacy, people have a huge problem with that.”
Photo credit: Limits Within.
Making the project
The photographs were taken over a year, the artist said, and all of them were consensual, with the knowledge of those who posed inside them. The person was amused by how so many media reports said that these were images of foreign couples.
“There is an idea that Indians can’t do something like this," the artist said. "But except for one couple in the stickers, all the people in the images are Indians.”
All kinds of relationships were shown in the posters, added someone who was photographed kissing in one of them. While some were young couples, others had been married for years. This person has been married for 20 years and has children.
“I haven’t worn the same outfit since the posters were put up,” this person continued. “But the outrage really is more about the people outraging than about us. The artist is using PDA [public displays of affection] to draw attention to hypocrisy and our indifference to things that are actually in decay. India’s morals are fine, I’m sure.”
Photo credit: Limits Within.
Reaction time
Taking the photographs was only the first part of the project. The artist is now keenly watching how people react to them. The person did not want to exhibit these images in a traditional gallery, saying that the project was equally about how people react to the images, both online and offline.
While there were long conversations online debating the morality of the posters, the artist admitted that how viewers reacted to the posters on the road was more interesting.
Photo credit: Limits Within.
“Some people are shy – they want to see it, but also don’t want to be seen,” the artist said. “Others are voyeuristic. In one sense, there is a face you put online. That is why we are documenting what we see on the roads.”
The artist added: “People say that this is wrong because kids, women and old people will see it. So at male-dominated places like chai and cigarette shops or lavatories, the posters remained for longer [without being ripped down]. At bus stops where there aren’t only men, they were removed much faster. That might be because men control those spaces.”
In one place, the artist placed a poster of a homosexual couple kissing next to another of a heterosexual couple. The one with the homosexual couple was scratched out faster. Posters also went much faster from more genteel neighbourhoods such as Pali Hill than from less-privileged areas near Bandra station.
Photo credit: Limits Within.
Though the person who participated in the project was photographed in a public space, passersby did not seem to react to their kissing at the time. The backlash came only when the posters were put up.
“The average film poster is quite horrendous, it objectifies women," this person said. "These are just fully clothed couples indulging in public displays of affection. You see this all the time at Carter Road”, which runs by the Arabian Sea.
The artist now plans to extend this project to other parts of the city, possibly with the help of strangers, to see where the posters will stay and where not.
“We won’t know how people will react to the posters until we try,” the artist said. “We want to move this beyond the few of us who are involved now. That’s why we want people to write in, pick up the stickers.”
Photo credit: Limits Within.
Photo credit: Limits Within
You can track Limits Within on Facebook and Instagram.