In this fifth episode of Backlash, Resistance and the Path to Gender Justice, we explore how art and creativity can act as powerful tools for resistance, solidarity, and joy in activism. Moving beyond health into global development, this conversation looks at how artivism resists repression, engages young people, and connects struggles across borders — showing that gender justice is also imagined and sustained through culture and creativity.
In this episode:
Ishrat Jahan - Research Fellow at the Centre for Gender and Sexual and Reproductive Health at BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Ishrat’s research focuses on the intersection of gender, health, and environmental issues. She is involved in national and international projects exploring the impact of climate change on women’s health, adaptive practices in marginalised communities, and Global South-led curricula in higher education.
Trishia Nashtaran - President, OGNIE Foundation, Bangladesh
Trishia is a Human-centred Design Specialist and feminist organiser with over a decade of experience in grassroots activism, community building, and futures practice. She is the founder of Meye Network, President of OGNIE Foundation Bangladesh, and coordinates the Feminist Alliance of Bangladesh, amplifying progressive and decolonial feminist voices across local and global spaces.
Nusaiba Sultana - Team Leader, Oroddho Foundation, Bangladesh
Oroddho Foundation is a youth feminist organisation in Bangladesh that uses art, education, and advocacy to challenge social injustice. Nusaiba oversees initiatives addressing gender discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual violence, and religious and ethnic discrimination, working to tackle these issues at their roots through education and cultural awareness.
Useful links
Want to hear more podcasts like this?
Follow Connecting Citizens to Science on your usual podcast platform or YouTube to hear more about current research and debates within global health and development.
This podcast cuts across disciplines, including health systems strengthening, gender and intersectionality, tropical diseases (NTDs, TB, Malaria), maternal and child healthcare (antenatal and postnatal care), mental health and wellbeing, vector-borne diseases, climate change and co-production approaches.
If you would like your project or programme to feature in an episode or miniseries, get in touch with the producers of Connecting Citizens to Science, the SCL Agency.
Dr. Kim Ozano: Hello listeners, and welcome to Connecting Citizens to Science.
Speaker:I'm your host, Dr. Kim Ozano, and this is a podcast where we explore
Speaker:global health and development.
Speaker:We bring together researchers, practitioners, and community voices to
Speaker:share insights that drive positive change.
Speaker:And today you're listening to the fifth episode in our miniseries called Backlash
Speaker:Resistance and the Path to Gender Justice.
Speaker:We've been exploring how civic space is shrinking for gender justice and what
Speaker:resistance looks like across different political, social, and cultural contexts.
Speaker:You may have noticed over the last 12 months that our conversations have been
Speaker:moving from global health into the wider global development space, and this really
Speaker:reflects how interconnected these issues are and why it's so important we don't
Speaker:work in silos and really start to connect health rights and justice for change.
Speaker:So today we're exploring how art and creativity can be
Speaker:powerful tools for resistance, solidarity, and joy in activism.
Trishia Nashtaran:I choose to resort to art because I
Trishia Nashtaran:believe art makes you limitless.
Trishia Nashtaran:Art has no gender.
Trishia Nashtaran:Art has no religion.
Trishia Nashtaran:Dr. Kim Ozano: As always, for this mini-series, I'm joined by our
Trishia Nashtaran:wonderful co-host Ishrat Jahan, who is a researcher and advocate from the
Trishia Nashtaran:James P. Grant School of Public Health.
Trishia Nashtaran:We are also joined by two brilliant guests.
Trishia Nashtaran:We have Trishia Nashtaran, who is a human-centred design specialist
Trishia Nashtaran:and feminist organiser with over a decade of experience in grassroots
Trishia Nashtaran:activism and futures practice.
Trishia Nashtaran:She is the founder of the Meye Network, president of OGNIE Foundation
Trishia Nashtaran:in Bangladesh, and also coordinates the Feminist Alliance of Bangladesh.
Trishia Nashtaran:Our second guess is Nusaiba Sultana, who is a team leader at Oroddho
Trishia Nashtaran:Foundation, which is a youth feminist organisation in Bangladesh that
Trishia Nashtaran:uses art, education and advocacy to challenge social justice, including
Trishia Nashtaran:gender discrimination, sexual violence, religion, and ethnic discrimination.
Trishia Nashtaran:A word of caution just before we begin the episode does include discussions of
Trishia Nashtaran:gender-based violence so, take care while listening and step away if you need to.
Trishia Nashtaran:Let's get into the episode.
Trishia Nashtaran:Ishrat, welcome back to the podcast.
Trishia Nashtaran:It's so wonderful to have you back here with us.
Trishia Nashtaran:Your insights have been so invaluable in the last four episodes, which have been so
Trishia Nashtaran:inspiring, but today, perhaps, Ishrat, you can talk to us a little bit about the link
Trishia Nashtaran:between art activism and gender justice.
Trishia Nashtaran:Could you set us up for this?
Ishrat:Really excited to be back today, and especially excited because I
Ishrat:think anytime we speak about art in the space of activism and gender justice,
Ishrat:we are discussing the possibilities of resistance . I think in a previous
Ishrat:episode we had discussed how civic spaces, or spaces where the public mobilises
Ishrat:and engages, have come under threat in different ways across the globe.
Ishrat:And in the past year or so, we've also seen resistance grow.
Ishrat:While on the surface we don't immediately tie the shrinking of civic
Ishrat:spaces or the growth of resistance and revolution to gender justice, it has
Ishrat:a very deep impact on the way gender equality and justice becomes shaped.
Ishrat:That's because the accessibility of these spaces and the freedom
Ishrat:we have in them is very important.
Ishrat:Why it's important?
Ishrat:I think we have two really brilliant people here with us
Ishrat:today to learn more about that.
Ishrat:So, let me pop out the first question to both of you.
Ishrat:I want to know more about how you have used art and creative expression to
Ishrat:resist different forms of repression or censorship, and does that help sustain
Ishrat:joy through that resistance, especially in these difficult times we're experiencing.
Trishia Nashtaran:I'm Trishia Nashtaran from Bangladesh.
Trishia Nashtaran:You used so many crucial words, specifically the word joy.
Trishia Nashtaran:I found joy and freedom are so important in the work we do.
Trishia Nashtaran:I have always been passionate about art, language, literature, and technology.
Trishia Nashtaran:So, when I started my journey as an activist, that started way before
Trishia Nashtaran:I started as a feminist activist.
Trishia Nashtaran:I used to be an active blogger in Bangla blog sphere.
Trishia Nashtaran:And communicating through language was important, and that is
Trishia Nashtaran:where, in Bangladesh, we bloggers started experiencing backlash and
Trishia Nashtaran:censorship, which eventually led to self-censorship because bloggers
Trishia Nashtaran:were being killed for their opinions.
Trishia Nashtaran:It was between 2013 and 2016 when the energy of activism I was in,
Trishia Nashtaran:that shifted to my main network.
Trishia Nashtaran:I can give you some examples, like in 2015, there was an incident of sexual
Trishia Nashtaran:assault during the celebration of Bengali New Year in Dhaka University campus.
Trishia Nashtaran:The extremist, fundamentalist groups, they spread the propaganda that
Trishia Nashtaran:women should avoid these areas, the university campus to be safe.
Trishia Nashtaran:And we said, no, we are going to do just the opposite, because if we stay
Trishia Nashtaran:away from these places, that could be another way of making women invisible.
Trishia Nashtaran:We wanted to fight that with visibility.
Trishia Nashtaran:So, what we did was we went there, in campus, and we decided
Trishia Nashtaran:to celebrate New Year again.
Trishia Nashtaran:So, we dressed up, we sang, we danced in the campus, and that
Trishia Nashtaran:had a massive visual impact.
Trishia Nashtaran:And the year after that, in 2016, what we did, we went to Nimtola Gate.
Trishia Nashtaran:It is a small area in old part of the city where there are many rickshaw garages,
Trishia Nashtaran:and we went to the rickshaw garages.
Trishia Nashtaran:We brought in hundreds of women from my community, my organisation,
Trishia Nashtaran:and we occupied the street, sat down, and we painted those
Trishia Nashtaran:rickshaws with feminist slogans.
Trishia Nashtaran:With slogans against gender-based violence.
Trishia Nashtaran:That visible artistic expression and that visibility of women in public
Trishia Nashtaran:place doing something that always men used to do that was important.
Trishia Nashtaran:And those paintings we did on the resource that acted like moving canvas
Trishia Nashtaran:around the city, spreading our voices.
Trishia Nashtaran:So, these ways came up organically from within the community.
Trishia Nashtaran:And that is how we usually function.
Trishia Nashtaran:We try to incorporate the voice of community members with the lived
Trishia Nashtaran:experiences, and art acts as an expression to create the communication
Trishia Nashtaran:with the larger audience, who might not be a part of the journey, but
Trishia Nashtaran:we want to communicate with them.
Trishia Nashtaran:There has always been a lack of readiness to understand
Trishia Nashtaran:gender diversity in Bangladesh.
Trishia Nashtaran:And given the changing political dynamics in Bangladesh in recent
Trishia Nashtaran:times, this has become more difficult.
Trishia Nashtaran:So, I choose to resort to art because I believe art makes you limitless.
Trishia Nashtaran:Art has no gender.
Trishia Nashtaran:Art has no religion.
Trishia Nashtaran:So, if we can create some creative inspiration where people can come
Trishia Nashtaran:and ask question in a safe space, we can find hope to at least initiate
Trishia Nashtaran:a dialogue in a certain direction.
Ishrat:We'd also like to hear from you Nusaiba,
Nusaiba Sultana:I am Nusaiba Sultana.
Nusaiba Sultana:I myself have been an artist in my childhood I used to express my
Nusaiba Sultana:emotions and feelings through my art.
Nusaiba Sultana:When I was growing up and I was open to this activism world, and I started
Nusaiba Sultana:to learn about a lot of things, like how gender-based violence works or
Nusaiba Sultana:how I am facing a lot of violences.
Nusaiba Sultana:So, I felt like that I could express my frustration or even my lack of
Nusaiba Sultana:freedom through my freedom of art.
Nusaiba Sultana:When I was once assaulted by a family member, I decided to draw a picture
Nusaiba Sultana:of Medusa, and link herself with me.
Nusaiba Sultana:So, that would give me a power.
Nusaiba Sultana:I felt like that art is a huge medium of expression.
Nusaiba Sultana:Afterwards, when I was working with Oroddho I felt like we could do an
Nusaiba Sultana:exhibition and a workshop where we have young generations, especially people
Nusaiba Sultana:who are aged from 16 to 17 years old, so that they are exposed to the world
Nusaiba Sultana:of activism and they are also having education, because when we are having
Nusaiba Sultana:education through art, it goes through our hearts rather than when we are
Nusaiba Sultana:listening or when we are having paperwork.
Nusaiba Sultana:Then, we collaborated with BRAC.
Nusaiba Sultana:We pulled off this exhibition.
Nusaiba Sultana:There were like 10 fellows who did artworks.
Nusaiba Sultana:There were like seven artworks and two poetries and one story.
Nusaiba Sultana:And every topics were like sex workers.
Nusaiba Sultana:Then there were tea workers, then there were transgender women.
Nusaiba Sultana:Then there were, divorce mother, single mother.
Nusaiba Sultana:There were a lot of diverse topics.
Nusaiba Sultana:So, when they were expressing their knowledge through their
Nusaiba Sultana:art, I was really much surprised.
Nusaiba Sultana:There was a whole book about a single mother and when she was
Nusaiba Sultana:expressing her hardships she has faced in her life, I felt in the
Nusaiba Sultana:exhibition, people listened to her.
Nusaiba Sultana:People understood what happens to a single mother in our society.
Nusaiba Sultana:And then coming to the sex worker art, people from conservative backgrounds,
Nusaiba Sultana:like religious backgrounds, who feels like that sex work is a taboo, they were
Nusaiba Sultana:exposed to these terms as well in the exhibition and through these people, and
Nusaiba Sultana:these people were like 16 to 17 years old.
Nusaiba Sultana:So I feel like that when they were given the opportunity or the floor to
Nusaiba Sultana:express their knowledge through their art, they have no boundaries in their
Nusaiba Sultana:creative freedom and they want to learn more because they want to show the
Nusaiba Sultana:world that yeah, they know about this.
Nusaiba Sultana:Dr. Kim Ozano: It's really clear how strong the link between
Nusaiba Sultana:art and the individual, and what it gives the individual.
Nusaiba Sultana:You've talked about power in this organic, creative expression.
Nusaiba Sultana:So, I can definitely see the outcomes for an individual and how
Nusaiba Sultana:that would help build strength.
Nusaiba Sultana:Perhaps you could talk to us a bit more about the outcomes beyond the individual.
Nusaiba Sultana:Do these exhibitions and moving canvases start to shift social
Nusaiba Sultana:norms that restrict freedom?
Nusaiba Sultana:So, I was giving you an example of my friend I
Nusaiba Sultana:had invited to this exhibition.
Nusaiba Sultana:He had a lot of ignorance towards activism topics.
Nusaiba Sultana:When he came to this exhibition and he got to learn about the hardship sex
Nusaiba Sultana:workers face, through the art, he felt that sex workers should be given the
Nusaiba Sultana:respect as much as everyone is given.
Trishia Nashtaran:I experienced different kinds of responses and
Trishia Nashtaran:consequences after different projects.
Trishia Nashtaran:For example, when we did the rickshaw painting, that kind of created a
Trishia Nashtaran:buzz across different platforms and media, and it also inspired other
Trishia Nashtaran:platforms and people with other ideologies to follow the footstep
Trishia Nashtaran:and create these kind of campaigns.
Trishia Nashtaran:And sometimes these campaigns were not aligned with our visions.
Trishia Nashtaran:We saw people creating rickshaw paint with really conservative ideologies
Trishia Nashtaran:limiting spaces for women and other genders, which was counterproductive
Trishia Nashtaran:to what we meant to do through the campaign in the first place.
Trishia Nashtaran:And again, our last exhibition was in 2022.
Trishia Nashtaran:To demonstrate the diversity and polarity of identities through artistic expression.
Trishia Nashtaran:We brought in people from gender diverse communities, interviewed them, asked them
Trishia Nashtaran:how they wanted to envision themselves as human beings, and we photographed them.
Trishia Nashtaran:There was a photograph exhibition, and the exhibition was open to all.
Trishia Nashtaran:The purpose was to keep some sort of abstraction so that these people were not
Trishia Nashtaran:directly exposed to any obvious backlash, but also that could inspire some sort of
Trishia Nashtaran:question, trigger some sort of curiosity.
Trishia Nashtaran:We got brilliant responses from different kind of audiences, it helped
Trishia Nashtaran:us expand our community to create safe space to have these dialogues
Trishia Nashtaran:within different gender communities of gender-based rights and queer communities.
Trishia Nashtaran:On the other hand, people who had no idea about gender diversity came up and
Trishia Nashtaran:started asking strange questions, weird questions, which I felt was necessary to
Trishia Nashtaran:be able to listen to this and to respond to this without creating hostility.
Trishia Nashtaran:I think being mindful in navigating the dialogue and bringing in people,
Trishia Nashtaran:and having that space to invite questions and have interesting
Trishia Nashtaran:conversation helped us in that way.
Nusaiba Sultana:While you were doing the paintings on the rickshaws did you
Nusaiba Sultana:like face backlashes from the mass?
Nusaiba Sultana:Like, why are you doing this or anything, any kind of unrest situation there?
Trishia Nashtaran:Not at that moment because in general people
Trishia Nashtaran:in Bangladesh are really curious.
Trishia Nashtaran:And especially about women.
Trishia Nashtaran:When there are hundreds of women sitting on the street and painting,
Trishia Nashtaran:people would gather around them and keep lurking and taking photos,
Trishia Nashtaran:which was working to our benefit.
Trishia Nashtaran:So there was not the backlash we had anticipated to some
Trishia Nashtaran:extent, that did not happen.
Trishia Nashtaran:But when things got to cyberspace, that is when we started experiencing some sort of
Trishia Nashtaran:backlash that these hyperactive feminists trying to do things, going on the streets
Trishia Nashtaran:and putting out unnecessary drama.
Ishrat:I think we've entered a space in the Bangladesh context where public
Ishrat:engagement with issues of gender equality or gender diversity are
Ishrat:becoming issues that the mass people may be fearful of engaging with.
Ishrat:And, in the coming days, you can only assume that it'll probably get more
Ishrat:fearful if there's no intervention in creating safer spaces for discourse.
Ishrat:So, I was curious to know, how can we create more activism networks which
Ishrat:will help navigate more repressive forms of silences that we are
Ishrat:experiencing and we will be experiencing.
Trishia Nashtaran:I feel that it is extremely important to understand the
Trishia Nashtaran:power dynamics and especially the kind of power and privilege I hold as an activist.
Trishia Nashtaran:When I bring in women on the street to paint on rickshaws, I'm aware that
Trishia Nashtaran:I come with certain kind of advantage and privilege as a cisgender woman.
Trishia Nashtaran:Understanding that power and using that power to facilitate
Trishia Nashtaran:the activism is important.
Trishia Nashtaran:For example, I registered my platform under OGNIE Foundation Bangladesh.
Trishia Nashtaran:That was a strategic choice.
Trishia Nashtaran:OGNIE works as a shield to the radical activism.
Trishia Nashtaran:We are registered as an organisation that works for women and children rights.
Trishia Nashtaran:Quite bland, boring stuff that conventional organisations have been doing
Trishia Nashtaran:in Bangladesh, but that is not what we do.
Trishia Nashtaran:So, understanding that game is important.
Trishia Nashtaran:And also, there have been so many initiatives across all genders and all
Trishia Nashtaran:generations, and many of those initiatives have failed for different reasons.
Trishia Nashtaran:And when I see activists, especially young activists expressing their
Trishia Nashtaran:frustration out of that failure.
Trishia Nashtaran:I can't stress enough how important the failure is.
Trishia Nashtaran:How important it is to keep trying to keep pushing and trying to do
Trishia Nashtaran:something new because even the projects might have failed, those are the
Trishia Nashtaran:projects where we found our allies.
Trishia Nashtaran:Those act as prototypes, those act as spaces where we test each other's power
Trishia Nashtaran:and patience and skills and potentials.
Trishia Nashtaran:It is important to keep moving, to keep trying and innovating and failing and
Trishia Nashtaran:moving forward through that failure.
Trishia Nashtaran:So that would be another recommendation from me.
Nusaiba Sultana:Speaking for the young generation I feel like that they
Nusaiba Sultana:are more into skits or MEMEs, right?
Nusaiba Sultana:We, gen Zs like to express ourselves through MEMEs.
Nusaiba Sultana:I felt like we could also add activism through MEMEs and skits in a lot of forms.
Nusaiba Sultana:How about making a current context or a current MEME into a learning procedure?
Nusaiba Sultana:And also, I feel like young generations are very much interested in theatre.
Nusaiba Sultana:They go to a lot of theatres and want to learn about a lot of things.
Nusaiba Sultana:So, why not add activism there as well?
Nusaiba Sultana:Why not let them be educated through that theatre?
Nusaiba Sultana:So, I feel like activism can be also directed in this kind of
Nusaiba Sultana:arts also, how about in concerts?
Nusaiba Sultana:Why not create a concert event or anything that engages them in certain
Nusaiba Sultana:fields, and then let them be educated through them because they are very
Nusaiba Sultana:much interested in that kind of field.
Ishrat:You bring out a really interesting point, that there's a certain ingenuity
Ishrat:to young people of using online spaces MEMEs, and creating third spaces, almost
Ishrat:digitally, that can be considered art.
Ishrat:That's strategic.
Ishrat:And that helps keep you safe even in the most repressive kinds of
Ishrat:climates that we might experience.
Nusaiba Sultana:I feel like sarcasm, sarcasm is a coping
Nusaiba Sultana:mechanism of a lot of people, and also, we can relate to sarcasm.
Nusaiba Sultana:So why not do strategically sarcasm and activism together
Nusaiba Sultana:because yeah, a lot of people would engage in that, in my opinion.
Trishia Nashtaran:It is very easy for us to try to understand how the urban,
Trishia Nashtaran:educated youth thinks, but there are a large audience in rural areas or in
Trishia Nashtaran:different areas of the urban spaces who consume different kind of art.
Trishia Nashtaran:Maybe not music, maybe not drawing, painting or MEMEs, there
Trishia Nashtaran:are people who feel entertained through religious speeches.
Trishia Nashtaran:So, I think it is important to go to those areas, to those demographics and
Trishia Nashtaran:try to understand what is their idea of fun and joy and design something around
Trishia Nashtaran:that so that they feel included and the change can be transformative and holistic.
Trishia Nashtaran:Dr. Kim Ozano: Amazing.
Trishia Nashtaran:What a great conversation, already I've learned the importance of
Trishia Nashtaran:creating safe spaces, not just for expression, but I love this idea of
Trishia Nashtaran:allowing people to ask weird questions as well so, it starts that dialogue.
Trishia Nashtaran:And I like this idea of having a shield.
Trishia Nashtaran:As activists, you have to protect yourselves and the people that you
Trishia Nashtaran:support and work with, and understanding the different shields that protect you
Trishia Nashtaran:whilst allowing you freedom as well.
Trishia Nashtaran:So, I love this idea of expressing your lack of freedom
Trishia Nashtaran:through the freedom of art.
Trishia Nashtaran:I think that's a real take-home message for me as well.
Trishia Nashtaran:So very quickly, what would you say to those people who really want to
Trishia Nashtaran:engage in gender justice and become activists, and how they might connect
Trishia Nashtaran:art and activism to make those changes.
Nusaiba Sultana:I think my piece of advice will be that you need
Nusaiba Sultana:to be very calm and very patient.
Nusaiba Sultana:When you are doing activism, people will try to trigger you,
Nusaiba Sultana:but you have to keep your composure because yeah, that's how it works.
Nusaiba Sultana:You have to be strategic.
Nusaiba Sultana:Dr. Kim Ozano: You have to think through your approach
Nusaiba Sultana:and stay patient and focused.
Nusaiba Sultana:I think, yeah great advice for those moving forward.
Nusaiba Sultana:Trishia, please.
Trishia Nashtaran:I would say art is for everyone.
Trishia Nashtaran:I just want everyone to have the audacity to imagine a future they want and be
Trishia Nashtaran:open to the ambiguity of the future.
Trishia Nashtaran:Dr. Kim Ozano: Perfect.
Trishia Nashtaran:Thank you so much.
Trishia Nashtaran:So, Ishrat, how amazing.
Trishia Nashtaran:What have you taken home from today?
Ishrat:I think it starts inside of you.
Ishrat:Activism is very personal.
Ishrat:Just like art is.
Ishrat:It's a personal, emotional journey as well.
Ishrat:So, I think we often, when we talk about activism, allyship, gender
Ishrat:justice, they sound like huge words and we need a lot of preparation to
Ishrat:be able to engage or research on it.
Ishrat:But I think it's important to remember that these are very
Ishrat:deeply related to the way we live our lives and express ourselves.
Ishrat:Dr. Kim Ozano: I think so too, as always very articulately put and expertly
Ishrat:bringing in that emotion as well.
Ishrat:And for our listeners we did have an episode on men and boys and the
Ishrat:discussion around allyship in a previous epsiode, so, go back and check
Ishrat:that out if you do have an interest 'cause we talk about that in depth.
Ishrat:Thank you so much for today's conversation.
Ishrat:We've heard how art can be both resistance and resilience; ways to push back
Ishrat:against repression, but also to sustain joy and solidarity in difficult times.
Ishrat:We've also heard how creative expression can engage young people,
Ishrat:open up dialogue in digital spaces, and connect struggles across borders.
Ishrat:These reflections remind us that gender justice isn't only fought
Ishrat:in parliaments or in policies.
Ishrat:It's also imagined and sustained through culture, creativity
Ishrat:and the stories we share.
Ishrat:If you'd like to listen back to our earlier episodes in the series, you
Ishrat:can also head to our YouTube channel, by searching Connecting Citizens to
Ishrat:Science and hit that subscribe button so you don't miss what's coming next.
Ishrat:Our next episode will be the last in this gender justice mini-series, and we'd love
Ishrat:to have you with us for that conversation.
Ishrat:So, until then, stay connected.