Artist Statement:
Hello all! Thank you so much for making space for DEEP BLUE SHE #Mutiny2Unity in the Music of Many Colours exhibition. DEEP BLUE SHE #Mutiny2Unity is a grassroots music video/PSA intersectionality project for women’s / human / LGBTQ+ empowerment and racial/gender equality. Based on a remix of the track “Deep Blue She” from my album Bombay Spleen (the soundtrack ‘booktrack’ for second novel Bombay Blues), the music video features 100+ artist/activists, mostly women of color. Filmed primarily on cellphones, by us (The We), all over the world, over the course of a year–the idea being that we decide the frame, the angle, the dress, the dance. We tell our tales ourselves.
With the song “Deep Blue She”, I wanted to write a kind of female-POV modern-
day take on “A Sailor Went to Sea”, catalyzed by and in memory of Nirbhaya. A
call to rise up: to love our daughters more. Raise our sons to lay down swords.
Stand up for ourselves and each other. Love whom we want to love. Be who we
want to be. Make room for and celebrate each other. And create safe spaces for
that embrace. By the time the remix/video project began, in November 2016, it felt
ever clearer: The roots of the issues are intertwined. The fight for
women’s/LGBTQ/human rights and racial equality/gender equity is one that must
be fought together. And I wanted the video to reflect that, to be as inclusive and
diverse as possible from my world at that time — in terms of race, religion,
gender, sexuality, also ableism and age, hence in utero footage up through the
elderly. And the project is also a celebration of our communities. Many
participants are survivors. All are fighters of the good fight.
As well, I wanted it to be joyful, energetic; joy as activism. Hence: a dance
track.
The video also incorporates original art, some made for the project, and news footage and events, mostly filmed by participants (such as the Women’s March in NY, DC, and Standing Rock). In a way, this video is a literal record of the year it was made — and a kind of womanifesto to keep on keeping on, our mutiny towards unity, into the future. To nevertheless persist, resist, insist.
The winds are changing. And now is not the time to give up, fellow dreamers/doers—but rather, gather our forces. Turn that heartbreak to heartmake. We Are Here. And You are You– and that’s muscle, mind, heart, soul…and a very strong, steady guiding light, one not to be underestimated.
Our hurricane lamps are bright, will not be blown out.
U-N-I U-N-I-T-E!
Xx Tanuja Desai Hidier
DEEP BLUE SHE #MUTINY2UNITY CREDITS:
Song written by Tanuja Desai Hidier & Marie Tueje. Remix produced by Dave
Sharma. Video produced by Tanuja Desai Hidier & edited by Atom Angela
Fellows. Vocals: Tanuja Desai Hidier. With: ANOUSHKA SHANKAR on Sitar; JON
FADDIS on Trumpet; AMITA SWADHIN on Testimony; and VALARIE KAUR on
Watch Night Service.
Starring: The We. See http://thisistanuja.com/deepblueshe/ for full list.
