Showcasing the stories of women of resilience

Explore the inspiring stories of 15 courageous women showcased in the Parcours de Femmes exhibition by Consul General Lise Talbot Barre.

Among the many interesting persons that Consul General of Pondicherry and Chennai, Lise Talbot Barre, has encountered during her stint, are a few women symbolising courage and resilience whose stories she has chosen to share in an exhibition launched at the French Consulate.

The expo Parcours de Femmes, which she conceptualised, features a photo essay on a French Government commission by artist Lalit Verma that showcases 15 women achievers drawn from diverse fields, who battled against the odds to succeed and inspire others.

The personalities featured on the panels include former Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi, Chandira Priyanga, former Transport Minister; Priya Ranjan, 49th Mayor of Chennai Corporation; Parvathy Baul, folk musician-story teller in the Baul tradition of Bengal; and Pooyam Thirunal Gauri Parvathy Bayi from the erstwhile Travancore royal family, who was conferred this year’s ‘Chevalier Legion d’Honneur’ — the highest civilian honor bestowed by the French government.

The others are Madhavi Latha Prathigudupu, former national para-swimming champion; Chitra Shah, director of Satya Special School; Manassi Girishchandra Joshi, para badminton world champion; Sheetal Nayak, LGBTQ advocate and founder of NGO Sahodaran; Rajashree Warrier, bharatanatyam dancer; Ravimathi, special olympics-javelin and sprint; Suhanjana Gopinath, trail-blazer temple priestess in OdhuvarTamil Nadu; Vijay Lalita, paralympic sprint; and Vijay Lakshmi, paralympic badminton.

The journeys of these women must have struck a chord with Ms. Barre as she too struggled due to visual impairment, and later became the first woman with disability to be appointed a Consul General of France.

“I know this woman’s journey well, it’s mine too,” she said on a message.

“This struggle was first my parents’ and then mine”, recalled Ms. Barre, who was visually impaired since the age of five following an accident. “Year after year, this flaw would become the crucible of a great inner strength. It wasn’t enough to do what everyone else did, to be like everyone else, you had to do better — by working hard, by working more, by concentrating harder than everyone else....,” she added.