Shadab Wajih: Repositioning the Kama Sutra
By Alixandra Rutnik on Oct 19, 2020
One Club Member shines a light on sex positions for people with disabilities
Let’s talk about sex! And let’s talk about how One Club member, Young Ones 2019 winner, and Art Director Shadab Wajih reimagined the ancient Indian guide to sex by creating Kama Sutra 2.0 with his friend Caio Kochenborger. Kama Sutra 2.0 is not only a would be digitized version of unique sex positions, but also it would be specifically tailored toward sex positions for people with disabilities. Kama Sutra 2.0 will be an all inclusive guide to sex positions for every body– a new take on the old text.
We talked to both Shadab and Caio about their unique project and vision for Kama Sutra 2.0. “Kama Sutra 2.0 was inspired by a D&AD brief asking us to come up with an idea that fights for diverse representation and sex empowerment for disabled people. Shadab and I saw the brief as an opportunity to make something meaningful– an idea which could give a voice, representation, and talkability to such an important cause that is not spoken about enough in our society,” Caio said. The final project was a product of many extra late night brainstorming sessions over playing games of pool together. Shadab will say that Caio lost most games, but Caio strongly disagrees with that statement. During a round of pool, Caio came up with the idea to tie in Indian culture and use the Kama Sutra as inspiration for their project. “As an art director, I have never delved into my own Indian background for inspiration until this project and that excited me the most,” Shadab said.
The Kama Sutra is an ancient book, but in order to revamp the OG Kama Sutra text their vision is to create an interactive and digital platform where people with disabilities can generate innovative sex positions that are catered toward their physical needs. “Kama Sutra 2.0 will have sex positions for everybody because that's exactly how sex should be. With an algorithm-based website, people will be able to see the positions that they can do with their partners,” Shadab said.
"Kama Sutra 2.0 will have sex positions for everybody because that's exactly how sex should be."
The Kama Sutra “is a general guidebook for not just sex, but life and love in general. It was a book that needed to be modernized and making it more inclusive just seemed like the obvious next step,” Shadab explained.
Through Kama Sutra 2.0, Shadab and Caio want to bring sex to everybody and allow people to use it as an education tool. “Working on Kama Sutra 2.0 was an eye-opener for us, we learned a lot about the lifestyles of disabled people and we simply hope others do too. Whenever I share this project with friends and family the initial reaction is surprise, becasue it is a topic that never gets spoken about. We hope to change that in whatever small or big way we can,” Shadab added.
"Working on Kama Sutra 2.0 was an eye-opener for us, we learned a lot about the lifestyles of disabled people and we simply hope others do too."
While Kama Sutra 2.0 has not been actualized yet, the foundation is already there and Shadab and Caio are exploring ways to incorporate their project on social media. Caio said, “We think that Kama Sutra 2.0 has the potential to make an actual and relevant impact in people’s daily lives, and as soon to be professionals of the ad world that’s exactly what we want to make every day.”
"We think that Kama Sutra 2.0 has the potential to make an actual and relevant impact in people’s daily lives, and as soon to be professionals of the ad world that’s exactly what we want to make every day."
One Club for Creativity Members get featured here on the One Club website and across our social media channels. Have a new project you'd love to share? An upcoming exhibition and you'd like us to help spread the word? Drop us a line at membernews@oneclub.org. We always love to know what our One Club Members have been up to, so don’t forget to send us your cool work!
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