This project aims to challenge the notion that women with tattoos are slu**y

Sanjukta Basu

Delhi-based photographer Sanjukta Basu had an epiphany right before her 39th birthday. "I was introspecting on the years gone by, and realised that although I had achieved much, I didn't think I had reached a 'destination'. It was as if I was lost at sea, and needed direction. But then I decided to embrace the fact that I go where the wind takes me. I was going to be 40, and this was me. I wasn't going to change. That's how my first tattoo took shape in my mind," says Basu, who once practiced law.

And so, her first tattoo was a sailboat, with a wave and birds in flight, with the line "wherever the wind takes me". This was also the time the idea of a project on women with tattoos took shape. Typically, some of them got one to signify something profound, like a break up with a lover or a violent relationship. Others didn't think it needed a reason. "The project is about challenging the stereotype around women with tattoos. They don't get them because they are slutty or hippie, or because they are reckless," she argues.

The photographer, who is on the lookout for new subjects to shoot in Mumbai and Delhi, says, ideally, all women should get in touch with her and tell her their stories. Sunday mid-day got Basu to shares some of her favourites.

Vimala is an aviation professional, and loves wings. Years after she got married to the man she loved, she realised he was addicted to gambling, and draining her of finances. At 48, when she found herself free from the toxic relationship, she got a tattoo - a heart with wings. It was time to fly again.

Parama, Sanjukta's first subject for the Women And Body Art project, is not one person. Within her sits the essence of Kolkata, the city she comes from and loves. The tattoo on her forearm and is an image of Kolkata landmark Victoria Memorial, an angel atop it. It signifies her belief that something good lies in everything she sees.

Archana, a women's rights activist, grew up in a protective, privileged Tamil Brahmin family. While she has grappled with body image issues, she also didn't know that you could be anything else other than a doctor, an engineer or a lawyer. When she went to college, she met women from a variety of backgrounds and, before she knew it, the seeds of female solidarity had been sown. Her first tattoo is a symbol of feminism, and she got it on the day she learnt that feminism in fact, had a symbol.

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