Artivism, which stands for Art for Activism is an initiative by Shakti Shalini to employ the arts as sites of therapy, awareness and activism for social change. Arts forms such as theatre, dance, music, painting, photography, and so on are cultural sites and registers through which ideological changes can be facilitated to conduct a political opposition to oppression, violence and discrimination. Arts can become the points through which one negotiates, engages with, analyses and critiques one’s context thereby developing one’s political and social consciousness, self-reflexivity, knowledge and identity. Last but not the least, arts are charged with powerful effective potentials that may create spaces of freedom, dignity and hope crucial to healing and therapy. With this aim, Shakti Shalini has regularly attempted to conduct various workshops and classes with art organisations and groups. Activism uses art forms as tools to challenge social norms that stand against equality and non-discrimination including patriarchal ideas, heteronormative structures, etc.
