An introverted extrovert, Vipasha Chauhan emerged from her high school with nothing but pure love for design (and documentaries about outer space). Now, fuelled by her Gujarati chill/Bangalore hustle/NYC ambition, grown-up Chauhan wakes up pumped to work her craft every day. After five years of passionately creating ads and ideas, Chauhan who is the creative group head – art, FCB India has won a Cannes Gold Lion in Industry Craft in 2023. One of the most impactful work of hers is ‘Untangling the Politics of Hair.’
When 22-year-old Mahsa Amini lost her life because a tendril of her hair escaped her hijab, an invisible line connected her to many others. From Greek mythology’s Medusa, the monster woman with serpents for hair to the little African-American girl in Harlem, burning her natural hair to look like the straight-haired women on billboards to a widow in an ashram in Vrindavan shaving her hair to join hundreds of widows to Draupadi in Mahabharat, dragged by her hair out into the royal court to be disrobed in front of all gathered.
While politicians from the world’s largest democracy said nothing and people of India treated it as “internal matters of another country”. Stir, a disruptive magazine wanted to wake up the collective consciousness of a nation. A provocative photo essay was published showcasing the ‘Every Woman’ – stripped to the bone, stripped of geography, ethnicity, and religion, bound by her own hair, subjugated, and controlled by the patriarchy. Chauhan and her team helped show that Amini’s plight is an universal issue because the truth is that it wasn’t just Iran’s story, but the story of every woman.
About YoungGuns
Storyboard18 is bullish on India’s creative industry and the talent putting it on the map. To kick off our campaign to fuel the industry further, we’ve launched YoungGuns, an initiative to celebrate new ideas, bright talent, fearless creativity and an exciting future. It’s critical to recognize, celebrate, encourage and support young, brave and bold brand makers if we want to propel the industry forward. YoungGuns is an annual recognition program that puts creativity and talent back in the spotlight.
Here’s how we did it
Storyboard18’s YoungGuns is a celebration of talent – future-ready young professionals in advertising and marketing who are driving businesses and brands forward and bringing glory to India globally. YoungGuns – Class of 2023 was put together by our editorial teams through a selection process based on work/campaigns that have won global, Indian and regional awards in the past two years, giving India even greater creative clout the world over and setting a benchmark for the industry.