Interdisciplinary Photographic Study Explores Patterns Of Domestic Abuse In South Asian Community Through Ancient Torture-Inspired Art

'Mitti Ke Daayre’ or ‘Circles In Sand’ is an unusual self-portrait where the photographer has captured her own picture and then covered the printed portrait with circular cuts using a scalpel. The rhythmic cuts on her own picture represents photographer Sujata Setia’s perspective of domestic violence which she claims to have witnessed from her mother’s womb.

Setia (42) is a London-based photographer of Indian origin who has displayed her interdisciplinary photographic study ‘The Thousand Cuts’ to showcase the pattern of domestic abuse in the South Asian community. Derived from the ancient Asian form of torture, the exhibition highlights the cyclical nature of abuse, where each act chips away at the soul of the survivor.

The collection of art is an account of domestic abuse faced by multiple victims from the South Asian community, who were reached out by Setia to seek a closure for childhood trauma she underwent while witnessing the domestic abuse her mother faced from her father. After her mother passed away in 2019, she started photographing the victims of domestic violence in a manner that every picture tells the tale of abuse faced by the subject.

Deriving a common psychological state of domestic abuse victims, Setia came to know that all of them were “torn from inside” and to symbolise that psychological state, she used Lingchi, a form of torture used in China and other South Asian countries from around 10th century. Lingchi was carried out by making small cuts on body which is not fatal but eventually it is normalised to be painful for the victim until death is caused by thousands of cuts.

‘Mujhse Mulaqat’ or ‘Finding Me’ displays urdu words written on the picture in red colour. The art piece showcases the first letter in the subject’s diary after she left the perpetrator’s house and freed herself from domestic abuse. The victim who expressed of meeting herself for the first time after having born and lived for so many years can be read on top of the photograph. The red colour used to write the letter becomes a metaphor for her husband’s hatred towards her for wearing her favourite colour.

“Being a portrait photographer for 10 years, it was still difficult for me to mask my subject’s identity. Since photography is a limiting art form I made multiple iteration of cuts on the printed pictures which reflects past trauma and the process of reclaiming power. The patterns that emerge on the portraits symbolize both submission and resistance, forming an internal dialogue for the survivor and a conversation with the viewer,” said Setia.

The Thousand Cuts art therapy exhibition showcasing 17 different art pieces will be on display till Saturday at the G5A Foundation in Mahalaxmi (W). The exhibition will also host an art therapy workshop on Thursday whereas a panel discussion on ‘Breaking The Silence: Conversations on Domestic Abuse’ will be held on Saturday.