Dr Hanne M de Bruin will give an online talk about "Paarvai" ("The Gaze") on the invitation of The MAP Academy in Bangalore on 30 January 2025 from 7 to 8 pm. The link to this free talk will be published here closer to the date.

Pārvai or The Gaze has been inspired by the Western orientalist ballet La Bayadère as well as an 18th century travelogue by the Dutch merchant and anti-colonialist, Jacob Haafner. The play revolves around the interracial love relationship between a Kattaikkuttu actress, Kamaladevi, and Jacob. Kamaladevi is our response to the stereotypical portrayal of the ‘oriental dancer’ in La Bayadère. Set around 1877, the year in which La Bayadère premiered in St Petersburg, Pārvai inverts the colonial gaze to bring to light the feelings and emotions of the underdogs and devastating effects of the Great Madras Famine that began in the same year.

Photography was one of the lenses through which the British administration looked at its subjects. I will discuss the use of one such infamous photo by Willoughby Wallace Hooper, who documented the Great Madras Famine of 1877-1878. In Paarvai, we bring his photo alive through the agency, not of a male but a female British photographer, as a visual commentary on the effects an affects of seeing and being seen.

Pārvai creates space for the gazes and voices of ordinary people acknowledging their existence and legitimate demands, therewith complicating and rounding out the social picture of 19th century India. The play is set in Pulicat, which was the first Dutch settlement in South India from where the Dutch carried on business in the 17th century, including that of exporting cotton and slaves.

The Gaze was made possible thanks to a grant from the Netherlands Embassy in New Delhi.