AR comic book spreads awareness about sexual violence in India
An augmented reality comic book called Priya's Shakti aims to open people's eyes to how badly rape survivors are treated in India. A life-sized version is now coming to the US, and you'll have the chance to see it at the City Lore Gallery in NYC on May 7th. Priya's Shakti tells the tale of rape survivor Priya, who was chosen by Parvati (the Hindu goddess of love, fertility and devotion) to become her envoy in the fight against gender-based violence. The 32-page comic has hidden AR animation and videos in its pages that you can see through the Blippar app for iOS, Android or Windows. Blippar also helped creators Ram Devineni, Vikas K. Menon and Dan Goldman add AR content to the murals painted in several locations around India to promote the project.
According to the comic's official website, it was inspired by what happened to Jyoti Singh Pandey, the 23-year-old physiotherapy intern who was gang-raped on a bus in 2012. While Pandey and her companion unfortunately passed away, Priya survived, only to be shunned by her own family and blamed by authorities for her own assault. Thanks to Parvati's blessing, she eventually became a tiger-riding champion of gender equality, encouraging people to join her quest to end sexual violence. "Priya is a new hero for a modern India," Devineni told The Creators Project. If you can't make it to the exhibit in NYC, don't worry: you can still download the AR comic book, free, from the official site.
