Haan Hum is a community-led art and dialogue initiative based in Mumbai’s Kamatipura, by sex workers to reclaim safety, dignity and voice through creative expression. Rooted in principles of art, dialogue, equality, autonomy, and hope, the project conducts workshops, performances, and exhibitions that foster healing, solidarity, and public engagement. By transforming personal narratives into powerful art, Haan Hum challenges stigma and builds a new cultural archive led by those historically silenced.

Challenge

Haan Hum aims to address the systemic invisibilization and marginalization of sex workers in Kamatipura. Through art and dialogue, the project creates spaces for dignity, healing, and collective expression.

PASI in Action

Music & Public Theatrical Performances, Paint, Sustainable multi media, Clay, Zines, theatre of the oppressed

We rooted our project in Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Theatre of the Oppressed (TOTO), using participatory art as a method of collective dialogue, healing, and liberation. Instead of treating participants as passive recipients, we facilitator our sex workers as co-creators of design, form and content of the art, whose lived experiences shaped every step of the artistic process. Through image theatre, forum theatre, Clay sculpture, collaborative painting, and movement-based storytelling, participants critically examined their realities, questioned internalized stigma, and envisioned new futures. The process emphasized reflection, shared authorship, and empowerment, transforming art into a political act of reclaiming space, dignity, and voice—together and on their own terms.

Partners Involved

Our core team consists of Jaimala Iyer (Jaya)- She is a theatre facilitator, and has led many movements across marginalised groups, Girija Hariharan, muralist and social worker, theatre of the oppressed co-facilitator, Neethu, facilitator and Theatre of the Oppressed core trainer and sustainability coach, Anil Jha, ceramic artist, lyrical pottery and Theatre of the the oppressed co-facilitator. We have been working with Gurupriya Atreya, singer and Art for Inclusion practitioner. We launched initially with Kranti, an organisation that supports children of sex workers, and Save the Child foundation, USA.

Impact

Haan Hum fostered a visible shift in self-perception and public engagement for sex workers. Participants gained confidence, artistic skills, and a deepened sense of autonomy and equality. Many began asserting their rights in daily life, identifying as artists and cultural contributors. Through performances and exhibitions, they challenged stigma, built solidarity, and sparked powerful public conversations around dignity and justice.
We are a sisterhood now.

Check out their website: www.haanhum.com

Conclusion

Through a deeply participatory art practice grounded in lived experience, Haan Hum transformed creative expression into a tool of resistance, reflection, and reclamation. By centering sex workers as co-authors of both process and performance, the project dismantled stigma and built a bold, collective archive of dignity and defiance.