• Fugitive aesthetics: performing refusal in four acts

    Author(s):
    Swati Arora (see profile)
    Date:
    2022
    Group(s):
    Feminist Humanities, GeoHumanities, Performance Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Urban Studies
    Subject(s):
    Feminist theory, South Africa, South Asia, Performing arts, MeToo movement, Feminism and art, Feminist geography, Photography, India
    Item Type:
    Book chapter
    Tag(s):
    Feminist theory, women in performance, Black studies, Art of Black Dissent, space and place, urban commons, photography, Black hair, loitering
    Permanent URL:
    https://doi.org/10.17613/g1tk-0733
    Abstract:
    This chapter discusses the aesthetic of refusal as it is articulated in contemporary performances in India and South Africa while debates around the #MeToo movement continue to agitate and exhaust womxn around the globe. In the aftermath of the Indian Supreme Court acquitting the Chief Justice of India of all sexual harassment charges in May 2019, artists and activists are beginning to feel let down by the failed promises of the movement. The incessant pressure to vocalise narratives of sexual harassment preclude self-care, rest and strategic (non) productivity by burdening womxn with the emotional labour of reliving the trauma in public. This chapter discusses the artistic works of Thandiwe Msebenzi and Lebohang Motaung in South Africa, and Vijila Chirappad, Vanitha Mathil (women’s wall) and Blank Noise in India to explore their engagement with rest, sleep, beauty, stillness and community as forms of performing refusal. It examines the workings of racialised capitalism and raises questions about labour and production – who has the right to leisure and who needs to keep working – and how they are intertwined with markers of class, caste, sexuality and gender. The discussion affirms the affective potential of art and performance as a powerful mode of creating community while #MeToo exhausts our faith in the legal infrastructures of the state.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Book chapter     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    978-1-5261-5762-1
    Publisher:
    Manchester University Press
    Pub. Date:
    2022
    Book Title:
    Injury and Intimacy: In the Wake of #MeToo in India and South Africa
    Author/Editor:
    Nicky Falkof, Srila Roy and Shilpa Phadke
    Chapter:
    Fugitive aesthetics: performing refusal in four acts
    Page Range:
    309 - 336
    ISBN:
    978-1-5261-5762-1
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    9 months ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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