Abhivyakti 2024: A Grand Opening to Ahmedabad’s Celebrated Arts Festival

The 6th edition of Abhivyakti – The City Arts Project – started on Thursday with two stellar performances as the premier shows while the visual arts were also opened to curious and patronizing visitors who thronged the Gujarat University and ATIRA Campuses for the opening Day.

The Sauma Joshi directorial “Oh Womaniya” was particularly lapped up as the spectators overflowed the large amphitheater at the GU and they were accommodated at the video screening just outside.

An explosive energetic well timed solo comic performance by Jigna Vyas was thoroughly enjoyed by the cheering crowds in the first thirty minutes; even as it turned out to be a damn serious and dark take on rapes in its latter half. Inspired by a story by Ismat Chughtai, this hard-hitting treatise on rapes written in Gujarati by Joshi himself chastised everyone in our present day society who softly, subtly, slowly but surely contribute in the commodification of women in various ways. Add to this the seductive pulp which categorizes women into racial and religious groups. All this leads to the conditioning of the growing male’s psychology of looking at women as approachable sex objects.

The actor Jigna was at her emotive best as she hard hit the growing malaise and the media’s audacity to report rapes in ‘categories’ of “small and big” depending upon location, profile of the victim and the likely politics of the reported case.

The second premier was a dance concert by Khushi Longaliya held at ATIRA open air stage.

The 18 day long multi disciplinary Art Fest now in its 6th Edition is hosted by VNM Foundation of the Torrent Group. This will be conducted at two campuses in the centre of the city and is expected to be a big draw giving free access to all events.