In Our Own Backyard explores the creative impulses and forms of gathering within the women’s movements in South Asia from the 1980s onward. Engaging with the personal archives of artists Sheba Chhachhi and Lala Rukh—who played vital roles as organisers and documenters—the exhibition showcases their archival materials and artworks alongside contributions from a diverse community of feminist practitioners and organisations in the region.
Sheba Chhachhi (b. 1958) and Lala Rukh (1948–2017) share a deep commitment to using photography as a means to document, annotate, and construct archives of the women’s movements in South Asia. Both artists were involved in designing and distributing posters and other ephemera, and co-organised and participated in numerous workshops focused on screen printing, theatre, video, and poster-making. Together with feminist activists, writers, filmmakers, dancers, theatre directors, singers, and visual artists, they deliberated on questions of representation of the female subject in art and popular media, proposing new interpretations through creative and discursive interventions.
In this exhibition, Sheba Chhachhi’s and Lala Rukh’s archives serve as a focal point for exploring the affective registers generated by women’s movements. The display begins with the artists’ extensive photo documentation, capturing the diverse sites of gathering that defined this pivotal moment—from small-scale, intimate workshops and seminars to street actions as well as regional and international gatherings. It showcases ephemeral materials such as posters, booklets, and songs, designed for widespread distribution and public engagement, which transcended urban-rural divides, geographic borders, and traditional notions of authorship. We examine how such ephemeral material challenges conventions of the archive, in their immediacy of address and contexts of circulation, moving at a pace that eludes capture.
In Our Own Backyard takes its title from a manual written and designed by Lala Rukh, produced alongside a series of screen printing workshops held in Lahore in 1987. This workshop, along with others held across South Asia from the 1980s onward, provided a platform for artists to share their knowledge with participants from the region. These gatherings facilitated the production of posters that articulated demands for gender justice, serving as vital efforts for feminist practitioners to claim the means of production at a time when access to conventional printing presses was limited.
The archival materials further engage in conversation with three artworks on display. Inspired by multiple visits to Sri Lanka, Lala Rukh’s Sigiriya III: Night (1993) overlays images of an ancient city’s gardens with a depiction of water, reflecting her extensive exploration of screen printing techniques and practices of mark-making. Subh-e-Umeed (2008), a sound work by Lala Rukh created during the Lawyers’ Movement in Pakistan, captures the evolving soundscapes that marked her day—morning strolls, street actions, and classical music pursuits. Sheba Chhachhi’s The Yamuna Series (2005) centres on the Yamuna River in India, marking an expansion in her feminist concerns towards urban ecology. This work draws connections between various extractive systems and the power dynamics that shape our living environments.
Alongside showcasing artworks and archival materials by Sheba Chhachhi and Lala Rukh, In Our Own Backyard signposts and cites the contributions of feminist practitioners such as Kamla Bhasin, Urvashi Butalia, Chandralekha, Anamika Haksar, Anuradha Kapur, Nighat Said Khan, Nilima Sheikh, Navina Sundaram, and Susie Tharu, among others, as well as initiatives and organisations that emerged from within the women’s movements, such as Anveshi Research Centre for Women’s Studies, Simorgh Women’s Resource and Publication Centre, Vivadi, Women’s Action Forum, and Zubaan. Additionally, it features Maryam Rahman’s Lala Rukh: Art, Love & Feminism (2025), a children’s book narrating the artist’s contributions.
Furthermore, the exhibition invites Asian Feminist Studio for Art and Research (AFSAR), a contemporary collective and virtual platform with members from across Asia and its diasporas, to respond to the ideas and materials on display. Registering the continuities, shifts, and departures in feminist discourses, AFSAR members present Moving Hums (2025), an online radio station that unfolds throughout the exhibition, featuring readings, songs, interviews, and field recordings, culminating in onsite gatherings.
In Our Own Backyard builds upon AAA’s ongoing research inquiry into the multifaceted roles that artists play—in this context as organisers and documenters—offering a broader perspective on their cultural milieus. We pose the question: What happens when we shift art history’s focus from individual artists and artworks to the networks, communities, and movements that artists engage with?
Public Programmes
Guided Tours for In Our Own Backyard
20–24 Mar 2025
CCG Library, Asia Art Archive
Annual Artist’s Lecture: Salima Hashmi
Thu, 27 Mar 2025
10–11am (Breakfast Reception), 11am–12:30pm (Talk)
CCG Library, Asia Art Archive
Poster-making Workshop with AFSAR
May 2025
Talk on Publishing
June 2025
Film Screening and Discussion on Feminist Documentaries
July 2025
Poetry Reading with AFSAR
August 2025
Sheba Chhachhi (b. 1958) is an artist, writer, and filmmaker based in New Delhi. Her lens-based works investigate contemporary questions about gender, cultural memory, and eco-philosophy through intimate, sensorial encounters. Chhachhi created collaborative staged photographs in the 1990s and eventually turned to large multimedia installations. Her works retrieve marginal worlds: of women, mendicants, and forgotten forms of labour, interweaving the mythic and the social. Her works are held in major public collections including MoMA, Tate Modern, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi. She was awarded the Jurors’ Choice Award for contemporary art in Asia by the Singapore Art Museum in 2011 and the Prix Thun for Art and Ethics in 2017. Photo Documentation of Om Swaha from the Sheba Chhachhi Archive, documenting street performances between 1980–82, is held in AAA Collections.
Lala Rukh (1948–2017) was an artist, educator, and women’s rights activist based in Lahore. Lala Rukh taught at Punjab University’s Department of Fine Art and the National College of Arts for almost forty years, where she established the MA (Hons) Visual Art Programme in 2000. Following her retirement, she dedicated herself to her studio practice and activism. She was one of the founding members of the Women’s Action Forum (WAF), and worked for Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Joint Action Committee (JAC), and other platforms advocating for human rights and especially women’s rights until the end of her life. Her work has been exhibited at Dhaka Art Summit (2018), documenta 14 (2017), Drawing Room, London (2017–18), Yinchuan Biennale (2016), and Sharjah Biennial 12 (2015). Her most recent retrospective was held at Sharjah Art Foundation in 2024. AAA is currently working with the Estate of Lala Rukh on digitising her personal archive.
Asian Feminist Studio for Art and Research (AFSAR) (est. 2020) is a contemporary collective and virtual platform with members from across Asia and its diasporas for archiving feminist discourse and artistic research. AFSAR addresses the urgent need for transnational discourse through reciprocal exchange between Asian and diasporic Asian practitioners. Taking fluid shapes such as film production, study groups, programming, and publications, AFSAR explores “Asia” as a framework to approach issues impacting its localities and diaspora. AFSAR produces artistic research rooted in contemporary feminist discourse, bringing together artists, curators, writers, and practitioners to generate a living and embodied archive.
In Our Own Backyard is curated by Samira Bose, Özge Ersoy, and Sneha Ragavan, with support from Noopur Desai, Paul C. Fermin, Christopher K. Ho, Jocelin Kee, Christy Li, Rebecca Tso, and Lily Wong.
Graphic Design: MAJO
Media Partners: ArtReview Asia, Mousse
This exhibition is generously supported by the AAA Women and Gender Diversity Fund, and Mimi Brown & Alp Erçil.
Banner image: South Asian Workshop on Women and Development, photographed by Lala Rukh, Koitta, Bangladesh, 1986. Courtesy of the Estate of Lala Rukh.
