One look at Shilo Shiv Suleman and it’s clear she’s not one to follow convention. When I meet her, the 24-year-old graphic illustrator, storyteller and artist from Bangalore is wearing an unusual combination of tribal jewellery, feathers and flowers which makes for a strong visual impact. Her appearance exudes a gypsy-like, free spirited vibe, and that is reflected strongly in her work.
Shilo exploded in the digital space when she was invited to be a speaker at TED, a global platform for exchange of ideas in 2011, where she demonstrated how she had used technology to fuel children’s imagination through Khoya, an interactive storybook app for the iPad. Her vibrant illustrations have brought alive children’s books like The Bookworm and At Least A Fish, and she is currently researching for a four-part graphic novel series in which she plans to rewrite myths from around the world from a feminist point of view. But it was her Fearless Collective Project that struck a chord with women around the world. A collection of posters that challenges patriarchal mindsets, the spark for the initiative was lit right after the Delhi gang rape. “A few weeks after the heinous incident, I began to feel insecure,” recalls Shilo. “There were a lot of media reports that raised questions like, ‘Should a woman dress a certain way?’, ‘Is it safe for her to travel alone at night?’. And suddenly, my friends were asking me, ‘Are you sure you want to dress like this? Why don’t you try and attract less attention?’ ” Determined not to let fear overwhelm her, Shilo decided to give expression to her feelings by making a poster for her blog. “The poster said, ‘I never ask for it’. It was an affirmation of beauty and life, and it started my Fearless Collective Project. I put out an open call for posters that reaffirmed fearlessness in some way.”
In response, Shilo received more than 350 posters from around the world. It gave her the chance to connect with women who had faced harrassment. “One of them wrote about how she was stalked for almost four years by a man, but after making the poster, she found the courage to go to the police station and file a restraining order against him.” The artist plans to take the project from the digital plane to the physical in 2014 with a road trip called Fearless Yatra that will see collaborations from artists, illustrators and activists.
Through her illustrations and drawings, Shilo has been telling compelling stories. “I believe that the common goal of street art and women’s rights is to reclaim one’s right to public spaces. At each place that I travel to this year, I paint a wall that’s in context to that space. For example, in Hindu-heartland Benaras, I painted a huge wall that said Har Mahila Devi Hai with a giant image of Goddess Durga atop her lion, and a little girl and her cat looking up and saying, ‘What we worship we shall become’. On a subliminal level, these images can create a different reality than what is usually projected on street walls around our cities. Instead of super-sexed Bollywood actors on billboards, why can’t we have more photographs of crowd sourced real women?”
Her strong voice will continue to be heard with her future projects, including in the graphic novel she is working on. Whether it’s taking a new route to children’s education, or fighting for women’s rights, Shilo’s unconventional imagery doesn’t just make a point, but is also is a treat for the eyes. Every piece of her work speaks of her passion for bringing about a change. And that’s why when it comes to summing up her work, she likes to quote the Sufi poet Rumi: ‘Let the beauty of what you love be what you do’.
