Write Your Hero - Anisha, 17 — Kailash Satyarthi
My finger swirled in cobalt blue and magenta. The result was a pool of indigo with threads of blue and purple on the edge of the palette. I scooped up the mixture with my thumb and laid it on the canvas. Continuing to rub the paint in, I attempted to replicate the fingers of my left hand using the fingers of my right. I was finger painting my own fingers.
When I got home from the art studio that night, I kept thinking about how I would turn a painting of my left hand into a complete piece of art. My “ah-ha” moment was a pair of shorts. They were color-blocked; each side a different shade of blue. Layered curtain fabric made up the sky blue half, and material from a navy skirt had turned into the other half. The lopsided stitching and uneven waistband gave away that the shorts were my first attempt at sewing a piece of clothing. Yet, they gave me an idea for my painting.
I had recently begun making my own clothes. While scrolling through Pinterest, I came across a blog about retail brands that negatively impacted the planet and its workers — I was surprised to learn that I regularly wore almost all of them. Online magazines and YouTube videos validated that I was supporting the modern textile industry that causes long-term environmental damage and exploits young children.
This was when I first learned about Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian youth education activist and the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. He launched various grassroots movements to spread awareness of the unethical working conditions of clothing factories in developing countries. Moved by Satyarthi’s work I began to reflect on how I, as a consumer and producer, could curb the effect of fast fashion. My solution was to sustainably buy or make clothes out of upcycled fabric at home. At first, the stitching was untidy, but I had started wearing clothes that were environmentally friendly.
At the art studio a few days later, I brainstormed ways I could raise awareness of the harmful effects of fast fashion through my unfinished hand painting. I decided to make the piece out of a variety of materials like I had done for the shorts. I used a piece of chicken wire to make a three-dimensional beehive attached to the large canvas. I then used gold silk, highlighter yellow
tulle, and mustard lace trim to symbolize the honey filling.
As I continued to dig deeper into the issues of the textile industry, I learned about Kailash Satyarthi’s humble beginnings at a young age; he published “Sangharsh Jaari Rahega” (The Struggle Shall Continue) about human rights violations in his twenties. Shortly after, he quit his well paid job as an electrical engineer to become a teacher. In the past 40 years, he has provided education and rehabilitation to countless children and he has founded the Global March Against Child Labor. From these events, I learned about the shocking extent of young children working in textile mills.
To portray the exploitation of these children, I painted paper worker bees swarming around the hive. Each striped insect with glassy wings seemed to be begging to keep their hard-earned honey. My artwork was starting to look complete as each cell of the honeycomb was filled with fabric, and each bee had a distinct job.
Discovering the work of Satyarthi and his contribution to reforming the fast fashion industry has sparked my interest in exploring social injustice around the world. And, though I had started addressing the harmful effects of the clothing industry through my art, I felt I could do more. The clothing brands I wore were either sustainable or ethically produced, but not both; the
intersection was missing. It didn’t make sense for me to wear a shirt made of recycled plastic bottles if it was manufactured by factory workers who didn’t earn a living wage. Why couldn’t a brand be both sustainable and ethical? I thus founded the company [b.a.z.z.o] & Co. that did both. Most accessories and apparel are made out of textured and printed clothes around the house. When this supply runs out, I turn to fabrics from thrift stores that inspire my designs. Along with the accessories, I started making masks after I learned that disposable PPE was polluting the environment. I donated reusable masks, made out of recycled fabric, to rural hospitals, senior living
facilities, and homeless shelters greatly affected by Coronavirus.
The finishing touch of the painting was honey. Hot glue spread from the palm of the hand off the canvas. Embellished, gold thread became tangled in the glue dripping from the beehive. The hand was depicted as if it was stealing honey from the comb that the bees worked so hard to make. I named the mixed media piece “Corruption.”
By working to liberate children from labor, Kailash Satyarthi not only provided almost 90,000 children with a plan for education but also inspired other young people, like me, to start raising movements against textile corporations. Satyarthi’s 100 Million campaign works to mobilize youth to create meaningful change in their area. So, to jumpstart awareness of these issues I continue to share my story through the arts and youth activism platforms. Though my painting is now complete, my fight for social justice has just begun.