Who is ‘RSAB’? 

The R is for Revati, a ‘crazy’ woman pursuing her study of the ‘anatomy of hate’. Even crazier to leave the comforts of the capital behind and settle in a nondescript small town in India’s Western Uttar Pradesh, all because her precious study continues. Given the bright grin that Revati Laul’s face frequently breaks into, one would assume that all this is somehow smooth and fun for her. But you know it is not. A journalist, activist and writer, Revati has sat across perpetrators of mass violence, been attacked by a convicted criminal and continues to engage with those who do not see eye to eye with her. Again, all because she wants to get into the heart of violence. 

As the founder-director of Sarfaroshi Foundation, a non-profit that works towards building solidarities across caste and communal divides, Revati has taken the plunge into what many might consider to be a lost cause. And yet in the sparkle of her kohl lined eyes and the depth of her dimples, she holds a certain enigmatic promise of empathy winning over the crudeness of cynicism. For those around her, especially the women she works with in Shamli, Revati does seem like an undefined force. She seems to be living out her own description of Mother India, “Not a white-sari clad picture of sacrifice, but the ulte-paon wali chudail—the witch who walks backwards”. 

Call it pure coincidence that during a session at the foundation where women from villages across Shamli got together to make papier-mâché bowls, Revati received her own customized one as a gift; portraying her as a witch with a dick. SAB, Revati tells us, are the initials of three women—one Muslim, one Dalit and one OBC—who made the bowl. An underhanded compliment perhaps? Or an innocent joke? Either way, Revati’s cackling laughter as she flaunts this prized possession of hers is undeniably witchy! 

Immediately after the failure of the referendum to legalise abortion in the Catholic stronghold Portugal, in 1998,  Portuguese-British artist Paula Rego painted her abortion series. The series had an immense contributing  impact on public opinion and the success of the second referendum in 2007 through which surgical procedure was legalized for terminations under certain circumstances. 

The world lost Rego (87 years) on 8 June 2022. And almost immediately the world witnessed the US Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade (50 years) on 24 June 2022. Just as Rego’s death isn’t for the art world to mourn alone, the overturning of Roe v. Wade tests the global conscience.