In early December, I woke up to a message from Rana Ayyub about receiving the John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award, the highest honor given by the US National Press Club. She is the first Indian journalist and the first Muslim to win the award.
Journalist Rana Ayyub posing with the John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award. , Photo credit: Melissa Lytle and Lexie Swallow
The video she sent would soon be all over the news – on Ayyub freedom, speaking truth to power, how she went into hiding when she found out she was getting the award because Mohammad ZubairA journalist co-accused with him in two cases was arrested recently. Ayyub took the stage with the demeanor of a statesman, his speech had the passion of a poet. He was wearing a red suit.
The 38-year-old’s face has been turned into pornographic videos, she has received death and rape threats. Good friends have asked him to disappear, to stay away from his devices so that his IP address is not tracked. And here she was in red. A color that catches the eye, and captivates the gaze.
On the phone from Chicago, Job told me that ever since he persona non grata As for the Indian administration, he has been advised to downplay himself, keep quiet. “That was me pushing myself. I’m not going anywhere,” she says.
arresting image
Poet and activist Meena Kandasamy. , Photo Credit: Varun Vasudevan
Job’s red suit reminded me of a portrait of poet and activist Meena Kandasamy two months back, when she was announced Recipients of this year’s PEN Germany Hermann Kesten PrizeThose who stand up against harassment of writers and journalists are honored. The news came along with a stunning picture of her in a red summer dress.
Kandasamy is of a humble nature. But his portraits – even the early portraits of the young poet in jeans – have always carried a certain demeanor: a grounded stance, chin skyward, eyes into the lens, thick lines of mascara, lips slightly curled at the edges, hair who refuse to obey the school rules.
Kandasamy told me she thought of wearing the red dress when a newspaper told her they were going to interview her for a cover story and needed new photographs. She picked up the dress from a charity thrift store a long time ago because he told her, ‘You don’t need to apologize, you don’t need to hide, you can pretend.’ “I thought red was striking and anything that offset my complexion. It’s bold, provocative, and it stands for a lot of the things I stand for. I love the crazy energy of the color,” she says. Are.
Red is the color of possibilities. In India, the scarlet color is synonymous with both Lakshmi and light, and tantra and darkness, fertility and death, bride and courtesan. This is somehow both auspicious and dangerous.
The famous French-American artist Louise Bourgeois championed the use of color to communicate in a profound way. The meaning of color runs deep. From red flags to red carpets to painting the city red to being caught red-handed to women in red and letters in red, it’s all about the idea of visibility, being seen.
For Ayyub and Kandasamy, women from marginalized communities who have at times faced repercussions for being shamed for being “too visible”, choosing the color red is not without ceremony.
public message
Italian designer Valentino Garavani famously said that a woman can never go wrong in a red dress. For them, a red dress could not only make a woman stand out, but elevate her as well. It did much more than help its wearer display confidence. It also sparked it.
Meena Kandasamy in a handwoven red silk saree as she accepted a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Literature in London earlier this year. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
When Kandasamy was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature earlier this year, she wore a handwoven red silk saree with some black and gold accents for the event in London. “It is always very interesting to convey the message when we appear in public. I had decided that I had to go red. It is not just about ‘Lal Salaam’ and my colleague’s credentials. It is a very Dravidian combination of colours. In Tamil, we also associate it with Goddess Mariamman. I think of it as a color that carries my anger and my feminism. She embodies both the creative and destructive power of feminine energy,” she says.
Angie Hassan of New York, who styled Ayoub for the Aubachon event, says she suggested red because it would be a historic night. “I wanted to make sure that when people Google who won this award, it will look strong and classic, no matter how many years later it’s searched for,” says Hassan. Rana Avatar”.
Ayyub first hired a stylist when she needed pictures for her new role as a columnist Washington Post, It started with the black power suit.
Rana Ayyub at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy. , Photo Credit: Courtesy Rana Ayyub
In April this year, Ayyub wore a flared burgundy suit by Nikhil Thampi for his speech at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy. It had golden buttons. People walked up to her from her hotel to the venue, telling her she looked great, and asking her if she was the keynote speaker. “I felt I had won half the battle before I picked up the microphone,” says Ayyub, who points out that his college attire was always a Fabindia kurta with white pyjamas. She bought her first pair of jeans when she was 19 and has always been a conservative dresser.
“Red was something that happened this year. There was a lot of backlash against me. Red became resilience, it became defiance.
reclaim an identity
Women in red are dangerous, bold, and wayward in fantasy and folklore across all cultures. Givenchy’s iconic red lipstick — a personal favorite — is called L’Interdit, French for “the forbidden.”
We’ve heard of Royal Purple a lot, but in Tudor England, no Englishman under the rank of Knight of the Garter was allowed to wear crimson velvet in any part of their clothing. The police always keep an eye on who can wear red and who can’t.
It played into the likes of Kandasamy. “When you think of Red, you think of the bride. I’m not married to the father of my children,” she says. There was an element of repossession. She asks why Red Ko Bridal Why can’t Red be a woman celebrating herself, a woman taking her place, a woman who is at a point in her life when everyone is looking at her, she asks. “The fact that scarlet was the bridal color weighed heavily on me, given my extremely painful and notorious relationship with marriage.”
Ayub, on his part, has decided to embrace Lal. He has bought himself a red tennis set. She tells me that she might wear red for Eid next year. “I’m not afraid of it anymore. If I’m not afraid to speak up, why should I be afraid to wear a color that people don’t expect me to wear?”
“It is new to us,” says Kandasamy about the conversation we are having. “Throughout the ages, we’ve been the kind of feminists who don’t want to be judged for what we wear, but for who we are — and then there’s a moment or a pause like this when we can be both: Make a mind and a body, and clothes in statements.
The writer is a Mumbai-based arts journalist and editor. His first novel ‘The Illuminated’ was published in 2021.