An illustrated, informative and poignant zine that cuts a long story short of the aftermath of the infamous Bhopal Gas disaster. Together, let’s remember, reflect, and raise awareness.
It started ten years back in the frustration of a futile college assignment. Being away from the hometown, angry and dismayed about how the world does not know of the children in Bhopal with cleft palates and deformed limbs. A disaster that could’ve been avoided, a disaster that lives on. A disaster that is unfolding in many Bhopals across the world.
I wanted to do something, anything that retells this story without the gruesome photographs that may win awards but repulses the public eye. Anything that asks for engagement with the aftermath in more color, satire and affirmative action.
And so Eyes Wide Shut became a book that was denied by publishers because corporates and ministers were named and then an exhibition and interactive talk that travelled across institutes like IIT Bombay, TISS, galleries like the Lalit Kala Akademi Chennai and cities like York, New Delhi, Bengaluru, San Francisco and ofcourse, Bhopal.
39 years since 1984, justice has not just eluded us, it has been systemically denied and the truth has been buried.
My naive hopeful self did not expect me to still reach out to you to help amplify our story, to educate yourself, to never forget and fight for a world with #NoMoreBhopals .
