Sujatrp Ghosh, a photographer from Delhi, India, has created a series of images that ask the question, "Are cows more important in India than women?" The images, which feature women wearing cow masks, went viral last week.
Ghosh says that Indian authorities and cultural norms are more likely to punish the mistreatment of a cow than the abuse of a female. Ghosh asked his friends to pose lounging on a bed, staring out of a train window, and gazing into the mirror, all while wearing a cow’s mask on their heads.
Cow protection groups were outraged and said that Ghosh and his photographic subjects should be killed.
This is not the first time that artists have used their work to expose misogyny within society. The Guerilla Girls have used gorilla masks for the past 30 years to point out sexism and racism in art museums. The Guerilla Girls created a poster that satirizes the painting La Grande Odalisque, placing a gorilla mask over the women’s head. The Guerilla Girls’ version is called Do Women Have to Be Naked to Get into the Met. Museum?. ‘’Less than 4% of the artists in the Modern Art sections are women, but 76% of the nudes are female,’’ the sign says.
The sign was rejected by city officials from being on display on New York public transportation because they called it too racy.
