"Ever After," An Excerpt from 'Drawing the Line: Indian Women Fight Back'

PRIYANKA KUMAR
06 September, 2015

In April last year, the Goethe-Institut, popularly known as the Max Mueller Bhavan in Delhi, organised a workshop in association with Zubaan, a publishing house based in Delhi. This workshop and residency programme, titled Graphic Girls was conducted by Delhi-based illustrator Priya Kuriyan along with two German artists, Ludmilla Bartscht and Larissa Bertonasco. Graphic Girls was conceptualised as a response to the horrific rape of a young girl in Delhi on 16 December 2012. The 15 participants—all young women—of this week-long workshop were encouraged to engage with the experience of being a woman in India through their work. The workshop resulted in Drawing the Line: Indian Women Fight Back—a graphic novel published by Zubaan, comprising 14 vignettes that respond to the debate around sexual violence in India.

In her introduction to the book, Nisha Susan—one of the founding-editors of the Indian feminist zine, The Ladies Finger—notes that the artists in this anthology aim to broaden the conversations beyond the terror of stranger rape “to talk about work, pay, love, marriage, disability, caste, sex and everyday sexism.” Susan goes on to say that, “It is a wonderful time to be a feminist with greedy eyes.” In this excerpt from Drawing the Line, Priyanka Kumar, a Delhi-based illustrator and visual artist, explores the toil of relationships through her story, Ever After.

Drawing the Line: Indian Women Fight Back (162 pgs, Rs 695)is published by Zubaan Books and was edited by Priya Kurian, Larissa Bertonasco and Ludmilla Bartscht. It was released earlier this year.

PRIYANKA KUMAR
PRIYANKA KUMAR
PRIYANKA KUMAR
PRIYANKA KUMAR
PRIYANKA KUMAR
PRIYANKA KUMAR
PRIYANKA KUMAR

Priyanka Kumar Priyanka Kumar is a Delhi-based illustrator and visual artist.