Fashion of Resistance - Shaheen Bagh

Manu Luksch / United Kingdom / 2026 / International Premiere / 12 min.

synopsis

The dress is adorned with the imprints of protest: the performer’s movements alternately conceal and reveal the faces of Muslim women who occupied the streets of Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh neighbourhood in opposition to the amendment to the Citizenship Act. A single body thus bears a collective defiance. As geographer Srilata Sircar’s voice dissects government accounts of the events, the garment restores the weight of bodily presence to the disparaged gathering of women.

“How can protestors balance their need for visibility and anonymity?” — Manu Luksch

Source: Manu Luksch.

biography

Manu Luksch (1970) is an Austrian multimedia artist, filmmaker and researcher. She studied history and fine art in Vienna. She explores the impact of network technologies on social relationships, the urban environment and political systems. The actress Tilda Swinton collaborated on the films Dreams Rewired (2015) and Faceless (2007). The Ji.hlava IDFF screened I Thought I Was Hearing Citizens, which Luksch co-directed with Mukul Patel.