Jasmeen Patheja is an artist in public service.

Jasmeen Patheja is an artist in public service. Patheja builds ideas for public and collective action. She designs and facilitates methodologies committed to ending violence against women, girls and all persons. She is the founder , and facilitator of Blank Noise, a growing community of Action Sheroes, Heroes, Theyroes ; citizens and persons, taking the agency to end sexual and gender-based violence.

Patheja initiated Blank Noise in 2003, in response to the silence surrounding street harassment. Over the 2 decades, Patheja she has designed a wide range of interventions, across forms of media,  to shift public consciousness and build ownership of the issue. Her work rests on the power of feminist collaboration and community. Patheja facilitates and intervenes, to build testimonials of sexual violence, confront fear narratives, arrest victim blame, and initiate healing, listening and empathy. Patheja’s practice has grown from addressing street harassment to connecting spaces of violence through victim blame. Select projects include “ I Never Ask For It” and “ Meet To Sleep” (ongoing). Patheja’s practice has led her to working towards the right to imagine in a climate that forces bodies to fire fight . She works and mobilises communities towards the right to be defenceless.

In 2019, Patheja received the prestigious Visible Award; awarded for socially engaged art practice. She was recently awarded the Jane Lombard Fellowship by the Vera List Center For Art and Politics at The New School, New York. BBC listed her as one of the 12 artists changing the world in 2019. In 2015, she received the International Award For Public Art, for the project Talk To Me (Blank Noise). She has been an Awesome Without Borders Grantee, from the Harnisch Foundation. Patheja is a TED speaker. She is also a TED and Ashoka Fellow. Her practice has received numerous media mentions including, The Atlantic, New York Times, The Guardian. Recent exhibits include I Never Ask For It / Meet To Sleep at the Ford Foundation Gallery, New York.  Patheja serves on the advisory board of FemTech Net. She is an artist in residence at Srishti Institute of Art Design and Technology.

Patheja also collaborates with her grandmother, Indri (Inderjit Kaur) on a series of photo performances. Patheja lives in Bangalore.

Contact info: contact@jasmeenpatheja.com

Awards , Recognition, Fellowships, Commissioned Work.

2023 :
Awarded The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency Program, a component of the Arts for Gender Equality Fellowship, co-produced by CARE USA and The Rockefeller Foundation.

2022
Awarded an Honorary Mention - Golden Nica , Ars Electronica Digital Communities Award for Blank Noise #INeverAskForIt

2021 - ongoing
Commissioned by Orchestras of Transformation to create work on the theme of gender based violence, and the overcoming of social inequalities, are at the center of this edition for the city of Rome. The Orchestras of transformation - new artistic imaginaries for the 2030 Agenda, curated by the collectives Locales and Visible, is a project that combines contemporary artistic imagination with new action strategies for achieving the SDG objectives of the 2030 Agenda in the medium term. Link

2021 :
Ambassador for Oxfam India’s Trail Walker Challenge #WalkForHer
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/strong-female-voices-come-together-support-oxfam-indias-gender-equality-campaign-144747

Nominated as anti-GBV champion by U.S. Consulate General Chennai, for service and commitment to preventing gender-based violence,
as part of the 16 days of activism campaign.
"The role of an artist in effecting social change is to facilitate imagination, create a vocabulary, towards shifting public consciousness and offering possible feminist, equitable, desired futures.”

2020-2022 : Supported by Khoj as part of PERIPHERIES & CROSSOVERS: ART AS SOCIAL PRACTICE – 2020/21
( 2020 - 2021) For Socially Engaged Art Practice

2020: Recipient of Twitter nomination for the Blank Noise ; resulting in a 24-hour Tweetathon. Twitter with Blank Noise enabled bringing together multiple stakeholder voices to bring an end to victim blame and build #INeverAskForIt . Participating stakeholders included Political leaders,  leading journalists, pop icons, and feminist organisations working to end gender based violence.

Project with Bangalore Police , BBMP,  and Karnataka State Commission For Women : Bringing attention to safety, freedom, and victim blame as experienced by women in Bangalore.The project constituted interactive and participatory murals that invited citizens to build #INeverAskForIt . The project was proposed as a pilot programme that could be scaled to other parts of Bangalore city. The project was also supported by Srishti Institute of Art Design and Technology.

2019: BBC named Patheja as ‘12 artists who changed the world in 2019’ .

2019: Awarded the Visible Award 2019 for Blank Noise #INeverAskForIt .

2019: Received Jane Lombard Fellowship (2018-2020) for Art and Social Justice, by Vera List Center For Arts and Politics,
The New School, New York.

2018 : Nominated and shortlisted for the Visible Awards (2019) for Blank Noise.
Nominated by curator Meenakshi Thirukode.

2018 : Nominated for the Vera List Center For Arts and Politics, New York.
Nominated by Gauri Gill.

2017: Speaker at TED Talks India Nayi Soch , hosted by Shahrukh Khan and Star Plus Television Channel.

2017: Awarded Social Entrepreneur of The Year, by Namma Bengaluru Foundation, Bangalore

2016: Select participant of the Well Being Project , a collaborative project led by Ashoka, Esalen, Synergos, Skoll Foundation, drawing attention to personal well being in social entrepreneurship.

2015: Winner of the International Award For Public Art, Forecast Public Art, Public Art Review, University of Shanghai | Project - Talk To Me, Blank Noise

2015: Select TED Fellow for  supporTED’s Collaboratorium programme , creating support for TED fellows tackling next step challenges, in their practice.

2014: Nominated as finalist IDEO.ORG Women Safety Challenge | Project: Talk To Me, Blank Noise

2014: Nominated for the Bangalore Heroes Award by Bangalore Mirror Daily

2014: Listed by Vogue, India Magazine as one of its fifty inspiring women.

2013: Ongoing: Artist in Residence at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore

2013: Awarded for Citizen Journalism by CNN IBN, towards Blank Noise

2013: Listed in MORE Magazine’s annual ‘Fierce List’. 

2013: Nominated for the ‘Amazing Indians’ Award by Times Now.

2010: Recipient of Young Leader award for Blank Noise, Civil Society Summit,  Bangalore.

2010: Arts 3331 Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan, building ‘Tokyo Action Heroes’ with Blank Noise

2009: Awarded TED Fellowship

2008: Artist in Residency and exhibition,  "What Do You Want", curated by Cathy Rae Huffman,  at Corner House, Manchester, UK, towards building dialogue on street harassment in Manchester City.

2007: Asia Society , Young Leaders Summit, Singapore

2007 : Awarded Fellowship By Ashoka Innovators For The Public.

2006: Artist in Residence at Khoj, New Delhi, for public art , towards mobilising Delhi Action Heroes. 

2005: Awarded Artist in residency programme at  Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart Germany. Duration 14 months between 2007, 2008, 2010.

2005: Research fellowship from Sarai CSDS Fellowship towards Blank Noise.

2002: Artist in Residence at Regent College, Leicester, UK.  Participatory photography project exploring notions of masculinity.

Select Talks & Conferences

2022

• February Mc Gill University, Montreal
  The Sleep Salons on The Sociability of Sleep
  Talk on Meet To Sleep and the Right to be Defenceless.
  Conversation with artists Amara Tabor-Smith, Ellen Sebastian Chang on rest and sleep.

  
  
  
  

2021

• November : Talk and Listening Circle Facilitation towards building #INeverAskForIt at Mount Carmel College, Bangalore.

• July Artist talk on art and activism, hosted by WICCI Karnataka Arts Leadership Council.

• March 8th, International Women’s Day - Artist talk at Dawson College, Canada.
  Organised by the Department of Women’s Gender Studies.

• Guest lecture on the notion of the ‘Shero/ Hero/ Theyro’, at Media Design Department, Art Center, USA.

2020

• Artist talk at National Centre for Biological Sciences , Bangalore, India.
  Title: Beyond Defence: The Right To Imagine / I Never Ask For It
  

• Artist talk and introduction to Blank Noise for High School Students at Bangalore International School.
  

• Guest Lecture at DC Summer Institute, hosted by Elizabeth Losh.
  Artist talk on the class titled Social Media and Global Rhetoric.
  
  Artist Talk at organisation Sneha, Mumbai, with and for the communities of women the organisation works with.
  Sneha works with vulnerable women and children to improve access to health. https://snehamumbai.org/

2019

Speaker at William and Mary College, Virginnia,

Speaker at NTU ( Nanyang Technological University) Center For Contemporary Art, Singapore at Art , Urban Change and Public Sphere .

Speaker , Vera List Center Forum 2019, The New School, New York.

Guest lecture at William and Mary College, USA.


2018

• November, Keynote speaker at Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies, Mc Gill University. Conference - Off-Script. Montreal, Canada. Talk title, Being Action Sheroes / Theyroes / Heroes Walk Alone Together.
  Signalling harassment on the streets, home, campus, workplace, web, and beyond. Blank Noise #INeverAskForIt .

• Speaker and panelist Open Con, Toronto, initiated by SPARC .

• Conversation between Inderjit Kaur and Jasmeen Patheja, collaborators and grandmother/ grand daughter, at Barkha Dutt’s We The Women , Bangalore. View the conversation here.

• The Performance Theatre, Xynteo. Berlin
  Saya Snow Kitasei with Jasmeen Patheja and Naif Al-Mutawa - We Can Be Heroes. Session: Building Movements

2017

• TED Talk, hosted by Shahrukh Khan , with STAR Television #TEDTalksIndiaNayiSoch , #ChangingRelationships
  View Talk Here

• Conference and talk on ‘Being Action Heroes’: Co Creating Safe Spaces, at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. Organised by Studio XX and The Institute Of Urban Futures. The panel was chaired by Kim Sawchuk and Yasmin Jiwani.

• Guest lecture at Mc Gill University, Department of Art History and Communication Studies, Carrie Rentschler Montreal, Canada.

• Workshop at Studio XX towards building Montreal Action Heroes and the I Never Ask For It project.

• Guest lecture, MA Fine Arts and BA Art and Media Studies, at the Zurich University, Switzerland, via skype.

• Talk at Ambedkar University of Technology, Bangalore, India, in association with Namma Bengaluru Foundation.
  
  

2016

• Artist talk exploring fear narratives, fear politics, trust, empathy, sharing the work of Blank Noise, at School of The Art Institute of Chicago. USA. Curatorial Studies Department, Sullivan Galleries.

• Artist talk with Suzanne Lacy’s project, ‘The School For Revolutionary Girls’, Ireland, a project involving teenaged girls, led by artist Suzanne Lacy.

• Artist talk at Allegheny College, USA, bringing together intergenerational group of feminist artists. Project led and initiated by Suzanne Lacy, and Leslie Labowitz. Presentation via internet.

• Guest lecture at Masters of Art In Public Space, RMIT University, Australia. Lecture via Skype.

2015

• Project ‘Talk To Me’, Blank Noise, presented at Cities In A Climate of Change, University of Auckland, New Zealand, in association with Forecast Public Art, University of Shanghai.

2014

• Workshop with the Tibetan Women’s Association, Dharamsala, India, towards project I Never Ask For It.

• Conversations with Namu Kini: An online talk show for women that turns the spotlight on people who have contributed greatly to the community. 

2013

• Teaching students at Srishti Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Bangalore, India. A three week course on feminism, lived practice, fear politics, empathy and trust Being Action Heroes.

2012

• Talk and Workshop at BMW Guggenheim Lab, Mumbai, India, towards building safe, inclusive cities and spaces, with fellow Action Heroes, Annie Zaidi and Hemangini Gupta.

• Teaching students at Srishti Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Bangalore, India. A three week course on feminism, lived practice, fear politics, empathy and trust Being Action Heroes.

2011

• Presenting Blank Noise and its Action Heroes, at The Carter Center, Human Rights Defenders Forum, Atlanta, USA, conference Of Heaven And Earth.

2010

• Talk at Digital Natives With A Cause, Thinkathon with Hivos, Center for Internet and Society, The Hague, Netherlands

• Talk/ conference, ‘Dealing With Fear’, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Germany.

• Participant at Vital Voices : Women’s Leadership and Training Summit, New Delhi.

2009

• Talk about Blank Noise, media and communities. Symbiosis Institute, Pune. Cyber MediaConclave.

2008

• Conference Presentation - Talk at Protest: Reflections and Revolutions, ATM08 Symposium, Manchester, United Kingdom.

Jury positions

2016 : Juror for the International Award For Public Art 

Select Consultancies

Feminist Mentoring
2021- ongoing : Appointed as feminist mentor for the South Asia Young Women Leadership and Mentorship Programme, phase 2. The programme is led by CREA and Global Funds For Women, and brings together mentors in South Asia to enable young women's leadership.

2017 - 2020 :  Appointed as a mentor by CREA for the South Asia Young Women Leadership and Mentorship Programme. The programme is led by CREA and Global Funds For Women, and brings together mentors in South Asia to enable young women's leadership. 

Education

2003: Received Diploma in Art and Design, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore, India.

Select Projects

Blank Noise

Jasmeen Patheja has designed a series of interventions between 2003 - (ongoing), to generate public discourse on street harassment, sexual and gender based violence.  Select projects over the decade listed below. Each project idea has taken shape through the participation and engagement of the Blank Noise Action Hero community, and allies.

I Never Ask For It: ongoing
I Never Ask For It is a global call to end victim blame. Most women, girls and individuals can easily recall the clothes they wore when they experienced violence. This memory is linked to the deep rooted nature of victim blame; that which is internalised and has long justified sexual violence. The project takes shape through a process of co creation, with individuals, communities stepping in with their personal narratives to end blame, by bringing in a garment they wore when they experienced violence. The garment is memory, witness, testimony. The project envisions thousands of garment and audio testimonials standing together, in sites of public significance. The project is motivated by the power of the collective to heal. Learn more >

Meet To Sleep: ongoing, 2014 onwards
Meet To Sleep responds to the environment of warnings that justify sexual violence, by inviting individuals to be ‘Action Heroes’ by taking a nap in their public parks. The event enables women across city spaces to shift the fear based relationship women have been taught to have with their public spaces, affirming the right to be defenceless. Learn more >

Talk To Me: ongoing, 2012 onwards
Cities include Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata. Talk To Me brings ‘Action Heroes’ to a conversation with a stranger over tea and samosa in spaces that are perceived as unsafe. The two strangers across the table have to commit to an hour long conversation about anything except sexual violence. The intervention is designed to question fear, and discomfort. It seeks to empathy. The first Action Heroes for Talk To Me were students at Srishti Institute of Art, Design & Technology. Learn more >

Being Idle years 2006- 2009/ Performance and live action.
Cities - Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Lucknow, Patna, Chennai, Hyderabad
Action Heroes believe that visibility and occupying makes a place feel safe. As Action Heroes we step out to make a place safe. In 2006 Action Heroes would appear idle on Bangalore’s Brigade Road and simultaneously in other cities through parallel events across India. Learn more >

Indri