Abstract
In the Western part of Nepal, in remote Himalayan villages, menstruating girls and women are banished to a faraway shed or dingy-huts because people believe that they are untouchable. This custom is called ‘Chhaupadi’, Chhau meaning, menstruation, and Padi, meaning women. Formal education about menstruation is not provided in schools until grade eight; by that time almost all the girls already have their periods. These topics are stigmatized even among family members. Just some outcomes associated with Chhaupdi include infection, suffocation, snakebites, malnutrition, rape, and even death. The Supreme Court of Nepal banned Chhaupadi in 2005 and criminalized it in 2017. But the ingrained tradition is still alive. After the huts and sheds were demolished by women’s rights activists, girls and women are banished to forests and caves. The goal of this project is to address this issue through meaningful visual design. The power of a strong visual can help viewers develop empathetic understanding. The first target audience of this project is young girls and boys in western Nepal. Two illustrated storybooks covering this topic has been designed in both Nepali and English language. To introduce this topic to the general audience and to raise funds for future research and contribution; website design, motion design, and collage series are incorporated as another major part of the project. An extensive exploration of the mixed media collage has been used in all the projects for visual storytelling.
Presenters
Riva NayajuStudent, Masters of Fine Art in Graphic Design, Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
VISUAL STORYTELLING, SOCIAL DESIGN, AWARENESS CAMPAIGN
