Priya's Shakti: How murals, comic books and Blippar are tackling India's gender-based violence

Young children blipping the Priya's Shakti artwork in Mumbai

‘I was in Delhi when the horrible gang rape happened on a bus in 2012, and was involved the protests that followed,’ says Indian-American filmmaker Ram Devineni. ‘Like many people, I was horrified by what had happened and angered by the indifference exhibited by government authorities at every level. There was enormous outcry in particular from young adults and teenagers - both women and men.

'At one of the protests, my colleague and I spoke to a Delhi police officer and asked for his opinion on what had happened on the bus. Basically the officer’s response was that “no good girl walks home at night,” implying that she probably deserved it, or at least provoked the attack. I knew than that the problem of sexual violence in India was not a legal issue; rather it was a cultural problem. A cultural shift had to happen especially views towards the role of women in modern society. Deep-rooted patriarchal views needed to be challenged.’

Children in Delhi blipping the interactive Priya's Shakti street mural

And so formed the concept for Priya’s Shakti, Devineni’s social impact multimedia project comprising a comic book, several Mumbai street murals and an art exhibition aiming ‘to challenge deeply rooted patriarchal views, and create empathy and identification with survivors of rape and gender-based violence (GBV) - so they feel comfortable seeking justice and begin the process of healing’.

The project – produced by Devineni’s production company Rattapallax - focuses on the story of Priya, a human woman and devotee of the Goddess Parvati who experienced a brutal rape and the resulting social stigma and isolation. The Goddess Parvati is horrified to learn about the sexual violence women on Earth suffer, and decides to step in. Inspired by the Goddess, Priya breaks her silence, moving thousands of people into action against GBV around the world.

The opening pages of the blippable Priya's Shakti comic book, which received international acclaim

Central to Priya’s Shakti is the project’s interactive augmented reality element. Devineni’s team used Blippar to bring Priya’s story to vibrant digital life by enriching the exhibition and comic with augmented reality, which people accessed by blipping the illustrations with the free Blippar app.

This enabled viewers and readers to further explore the heroine’s story digitally, access innovative interactive elements, and truly immerse themselves within her tale. Not only could readers blipp the comic book to take their photograph with Priya – and then share the photograph on social media, boosting the campaign’s global reach – but certain pages within the book could be blipped to access real-life stories of Indian women who have survived sexual assault.

People who blipped the comic could take a photograph of themselves 'standing with Priya' to share on social media

Speaking about the interactive aspect of the project, Devineni said: ‘From the beginning I wanted the comic book to have an interactive component that would help it reach wide audiences in India and around the world. We believe the use of augmented reality will have a significant impact on readers in India who are not as familiar with this approach.

'There is a huge “wow” factor when readers first experience augmented reality. Our comic book will be one of the first publications to use augmented reality in India, and can help define the new frontiers of integrating books, exhibitions, and public art with augmented reality.’

Priya's Shakti was launched during the Mumbai Comic Con event, above

The comic book launched at the Comic Con event in Mumbai. Its interactivity got event attendees and the media excited; Priya’s Shakti received mentions in some 200 international media publications and had over 10,000 blipps over four days post-launch. Once the BBC ran their story about the campaign, the whole project went viral.

Devineni said: ‘We never expected it to get so much attention so fast and go viral. We were not prepared for it, but now that we know of its possibilities we plan to market it even more. Our main protagonist Priya has really resonated with people all over the world.

Watch Ram Devineni talking about the Priya's Shakti project

Blippar only opened offices India last October, and Priya’s Shakti was one of the local team’s first projects. Blippar India’s Regional Director Arnav Ghosh said: ‘It was exciting to work on the campaign right after the launch. The fact that the campaign was aimed at making a real and significant impact on the country and how women here are treated made it event more so. The reactions of both the audience and the media definitely made it worth the effort!

‘Gone are the days when young people just pick up comic books; in today’s world it’s all about technology - life is governed by it. With the incorporation of Blippar the comic taps into the youth market, who are always on their mobiles and very socially active. These young people are the real influencers of today and will shape the behaviour of generations to come. Blippar’s incorporation helped excite this audience and also lent the campaign a social and viral element a plain comic book would’ve missed.'

The Blippar call-to-action featured within the blippable Priya's Shakti comic book educated users on how to blipp

Ghosh continued: ‘From a media and PR perspective, the campaign definitely helped us start off on a strong footing in the country. The media really appreciated the initiative and Blippar’s role in it and will likely be more receptive of our initiatives going forward. Areas as diverse as campaigns for social change, causes around children’s education, and the government’s initiatives for the underprivileged can all benefit from Blippar’s visual browsing technology, if applied right.’

And will Devineni using Blippar on further projects? ‘Yes. Working with the entire Blippar team has been a pleasure. We have a lot more planned in 2015 and will continue creating new stories and more augmented reality murals.

Blipp the image below using the free Blippar app to activate the Priya's Shakti campaign: