Bhauri* speaks of her unrelenting work; Phooli* carries firewood for dinner over a distance of seven kilometers every day; and Savita* feels as though she is confined within a small container.—

Photographer Rucha Vasumati Satish turns her lens on a system in which women, despite external control, violence, and existential dependency, find their own voice. In doing so, she tells both individual stories and a collective one of women caught between responsibility for their own households, the agricultural sector, an entire rural economy, and deeply rooted patriarchal power structures.

10–30 June 2026 | Mon–Fri 7:30 a.m.–10:00 p.m.
Munich School of Politics and Public Policy
Richard-Wagner-Straße 1
80333 Munich

Free entry

The exhibition is based on research findings from the project Disentangling and Preventing Economic Violence against Women (ECOVI) at the Professorship of Global Health at the Munich School of Politics and Public Policy, which implements and evaluates local initiatives to promote gender equality.

The project is funded by the European Research Council.

About the photographer

Rucha Vasumati Satish is a researcher, social worker, and photographer whose work explores gender, labour, economic violence, caste, and structural inequalities in India. Rooted in long-term engagement with rural and marginalised communities, her work combines research, advocacy, and visual storytelling to document and reflect on women's lived realities, everyday labour, and experiences of inequality.

Through the lens, her photography explores questions of dignity, care, labour, and resistance, foregrounding women's experiences, knowledge, and agency. Her images invite deeper engagement with the often-unseen social structures that produce and sustain inequality, while creating space for reflection, dialogue, and social change.

She is currently working as a Research Associate on the Disentangling and Preventing Economic Violence against Women (ECOVI) project led by the Professorship of Global Health at the Munich School of Politics and Public Policy,  leading the implementation of research interventions in the field and the qualitative data collection. 

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Garware College, Pune, and a Master of Social Work from the Karve Institute of Social Service, affiliated with Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU). She has also completed a course in Gender Studies at the Karve Institute of Social Service. 

Credits

Photo Exhibition Curation: Rucha Vasumati Satish, Bastian Gruschwitz, Yvonne Holzmeier, Nihar Sapre, Janina Steinert

Research Team: Janina Steinert (Principal Investigator), Ines Böhret, Shruti Shukla, Anushree Dirangane, Aashritha Shrinath,  Rucha Vasumati Satish

Field Support and NGO Partnerships: Youth Aid Foundation in Maharashtra, Swanthana Samithi in Andhra Pradesh, BARC Trust in Rajasthan, Karishma Shaik, Soumyashree Mohanty, Kishori Thakar, Suresh Kumar

We are particularly grateful to all the women who shared their stories and gave consent to be photographed. Their trust, participation, and willingness to share their experiences made this exhibition possible.

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*All first names were changed to maintain participants’ anonymity.