Aishwarya Arumbakkam

Items, 2013

    An item number is a music and dance spectacle that appears in ninety percent of commercial Indian films. It displays women (the item girls) who represent a certain ideal of beauty as they dance provocatively in the company of over powering men. This is set to a sexually charged, high tempo song.

The item girl is an independent sexual entity in the film and plays no active part in the narrative. The male characters from the film desire and further objectify this hypersexual woman, while the female characters from the film are notable in their absence from the Item Number.

‘Items’ is a colloquial way of referring to an item number or an item girl. It’s also a term used by people to refer to women they consider sexually appealing.

The photographs play with the above-mentioned stereotypes of women prevalent in popular Indian media and society.

The women in the photographs are the very anti-thesis of the Item Girl who has been rendered subservient by the male gaze. They refuse to conform to the biases imposed on them by popular culture. They wear the iconic ‘Item Girl’ costumes in defiance of the very stereotypes that seek to marginalize them. They represent a more inclusive sexuality, femininity and ideal of what is desirable. They take back the term ‘Items’ and make it their own.