She's Ungodly
A capsule design collection conceived in my final semester at design school, as my graduation project. What began as an exploration of (i) violent feminine rage, weighed down and raw, led me to explore the 5 stages that eventually culminate in (v) a state of liberation, feeling light and weightless. The journey spanned an exploration of (ii) womanhood as being simultaneously holy and unholy, (iii) a state of healing and growing new skin over old scars, and (iv) pleasure that's beautiful and personal.
The 5 ensembles presented are accompanied by a poem, co-written with a friend. Each stanza is associated with an ensemble and thereby one of the stages in this universally and uniquely feminine journey. The garments are made using deadstock glass nylon fabric sourced from a warehouse in New Delhi, and feature embroidered phrases from the poetry as well.
2022
My rage is my lover. My anger is my home. I am the fear that burns you. I am the fire that makes your violence tremble.
I am empty inside but I will wait for flowers to grow. New skin over fading scars, My body has been fruit to the hungry.
But right now it is my body, my body to call home.
My body is my home, my paradise. A pleasure so divine, the moon carved heaven into me.
Every hue in the sky on my face, I have every storm in my breath.
There is no city larger than the wilderness inside me. I am a fortress, unscaled.
There is no place for fear in my body. There is no darkness in the world that can swallow me, no ink that can rewrite my freedom.
I am a woman with the universe at her feet, and my liberation will live forever.
Credits:
Poetry & narration: Anoushka Radhakrishnan
Photography: Shreshth Sharma
Models: Anisha, Anoushka, Anusha, Ishika, Purvasha
My body is divine yet branded unholy. Blood red blossoms bloom down my legs, up my wings.
I am the very sky that holds up your dreams, and nightmares. My sanctity is worshipped every time it is cursed.