Superhero comic's 2nd volume on acid attack victims comes to Delhi

A tale of "courage and overcoming societal ridicule" by acid attack survivors will be presented in an upcoming exhibition here as the second volume of "Priya's Shakti", a pioneering female superhero comic about a rape survivor.

An interesting combination of interactive comic books, augmented reality and art, the exhibition "Priya's Mirror" -- featuring superhero Priya Shakti who is a rape survivor, and is named by UN Women as a "gender equality champion" -- will be presented for the first time in Delhi.

The exhibition will open at the Kaleidoscope Digital Art (KDA) gallery of Triveni Kala Sangam here on Thursday.

The first volume, "Priya's Shakti", was launched in 2014 and shattered taboos that exist in India on the subject of violence against women. As per a statement from the organisers, it has over 26 million readers.

The second volume of this ongoing series, "Priya's Mirror", sees the heroine joining forces with acid attack survivors to take on the demon king 'Ahankar'.

She helps a group of acid attack survivors to find their strength and conquer their fears - similar to how she overcame her fears after surviving a brutal rape, the statement said.

It has been created by Paromita Vohra, documentary filmmaker and screenplay writer of 2003 Pakistani film "Khamosh Pani"; Ram Devineni, filmmaker and creator of the series "The Karma Killings" (about the Nithari case); Shubhra Prakash, actor and short filmmaker; and Dan Goldman, graphic novelist and digital creator.

The show, which is about acid attack victims finding their own inner strength, makes use of augmented reality to bring the 2D world of the comic to life and unlock a number of vivid, interactive story elements.

The viewers can interact in 3D with comic book pages on view, by scanning them on a free, downloadable app on their phones, organisers said.

Also featured in the exhibition are real-life accounts of acid attack survivors who inspired the comic's characters.

"Priya's Mirror" is an empowering story of "courage, overcoming societal ridicule, shame and indignity leading to emancipation from disabling restrictions imposed by an unempathetic society and self", the gallery said.

It will be open for public viewing till February 9.

--IANS

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