Unapologetically yours, Aqui Thami

Goethe-Institut Bangladesh, in partnership with HerStory Foundation, hosted a pop-up of the Sister Library at their Rein Library recently. Founded by Aqui Thami, an indigenous artist based in Mumbai, the Sister Library is the first community-owned feminist library in South Asia. Rooted in the culture of do-it-yourself (DIY) initiatives, self-publishing and guerrilla poster making, Aqui believes in creating art that is grounded in the act of 'doing' and addresses sociopolitical issues. Healing, marginalisation and resilience are prime aspects of her art practice.

Through thick and thin, Aqui found solace in books written by powerful women across the world. As her collection grew over time, she decided to share her books with others. With that in mind, her journey with Sister Library, a space that celebrates women's creativity, began. The library has one thousand works of female writers, artists and zine makers. It is an evolving and generative project that engages with an in-depth reflection of the visual and reading cultures of our time. The goal of the library is to bring readers together, acknowledge accomplishments of female writers and artists, explore women's literary contributions and celebrate women in the creative arena.

Hailing from Darjeeling, Aqui migrated to Mumbai at the age of fifteen. Against all odds, she found comfort in art and reading. Six years back, Aqui noticed a gap in her personal collection of books -- only 20 percent of her shelves was occupied by books written by female authors -- this imbalance opened her eyes to the patriarchal set-ups around the world. "I made a very conscious decision to exclusively read books by women," says Aqui. She also made certain other changes to her lifestyle, choosing everything from food and clothes to music, films and art that were made and produced by women.

 Throughout her travels, she enjoyed her time at feminist libraries, and not having one in India made her upset. She wanted to take the stories she read beyond her bookshelves, and start the Sister Library. Aqui also won the National Award for Emerging Artists (India) in 2018. She began to travel around India and set up her installation of bubblegum pink shelves, stacked with books of various genres and sizes, all of which had different stories of women. In 2019, she raised some money through crowd funding to set up a physical space for the library in Mumbai. 

 "The way these female authors told their stories and their ways of looking at the world made a significant difference to my way of thinking," shares Aqui. She shared books with people who struggled to gain access to reading.  Among other things, her collection includes rare graphic novels, zines and artistic books.

The Sister Library also encourages young boys and men to read different books by women. However, some of their workshops and discussion sessions are exclusively for women. "Sometimes, we have a Mahila Mandali, where women come and talk about issues which they would not be comfortable talking about in front of men. We believe that the more people read and experience creative works by women, the more they would be open to celebrating women," adds Aqui.

Aqui's work heavily focuses on societal taboos or sensitive topics, for which she has received significant backlash. "The library was kicked out of its physical space twice. I have also been detained for my projects. I understand that the kind of work that I do can upset a lot of people, but that just means I must be doing something right. I may be in a vulnerable position without a safety net, but I do what I do unapologetically," asserts Aqui.

The Sister Library Dhaka Chapter will commence at the Rein Library of Goethe-Institut Bangladesh on March 11, 2020.