HIMMAT: CELEBRATING THE WOMEN AROUND US

May 19, 2019 @ The Playground in Chinatown, Vancouver Canada

Now Back Online

ABOUT THE PROJECT

HIMMAT: Celebrating the Women Around Us was conceptualised to originally deconstruct the identities of every day South Asian women – to document the trials and tribulations of immigrant South Asian women who grew up and lived in the Lower Mainland essentially decades before the current social justice, intersectional feminist and antiracism movements that have emerged during our present time.

A quick social media call in emerged into the starting of a powerful storytelling campaign that not only delineates many underrepresented aspects of the immigrant story, but also address key issues in South Asian microcultures.

“We had warm hearts and bubbly intentions when we set out with the idea of this exhibit. Roohi and I had both grown up watching the South Asian women in our lives navigate so many different challenges as they built a life for us. We had to honour that in some way.

What ended up happening was beyond our imaginations. We had the most incredible women respond to a call in. We documented stories holding gleeful joy, innocence and curiosity, heartbreak and self-doubt, new experiences, exhilarating adventure and incredible losses.

We stand on the shoulders of giants. And we are incredibly lucky to celebrate the strength and tenacity of the women around us.”

– Jagreet Dhadli, Exhibit Co-Producer

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

01 We would like to thank Joe Carlson for documenting this exhibit’s event with his gracious photography.

02 We would like to thank the residents and community of Chinatown, Vancouver for hosting us in their neighbourhood space.

03 We would like to acknowledge that we created, developed, and showcased this exhibit on the on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples–Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations

04 We would like to thank our project participants for believing in us and sharing their stories. We 🤍 you!

EMERGING THEMES

Identity (self and relation to others), Community, Empathy, Self-Awareness, Strength, Feminine Power, Marriage, Motherhood, Foster Care, Adoption, Miscarriage, Domestic Violence, Sexism, Casteism, Racism, Misogyny / Patriarchy, Alcoholism & Drug Abuse

View the Exhibit

1 day pop up exhibit

11 project participants

91 guests

13 event sponsors

432K social media impressions

14 volunteers

15,726 exhibit online visits since August 2019

$1.5K budget

$4K in-kind donations

EVENT STATISTICS

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thank you to our sponsors

We would not have been able to make a monumental difference in the way South Asian storytelling is produced in Vancouver without our sponsors, supporters & donors.

“I think about all of the stories that are going untold, or partially told because they are not being told by the right people… this event is about our whole selves.”

– Jennifer Reddy, DailyHive Article for HIMMAT Photo Exhibit,
May 2019